Chapter Text

Stellaron Hunters are widely seen as dangerous.

They were wanted across the universe, with news of their activities always present on the IPC broadcast, all of their faces placed above bounties that go up to billions of credits. But as one of them, you always saw your coworkers as somewhat… unique.

But if one word could describe the woman who had decided to invade your quiet office, it would be 'annoying'.

Kafka was annoying, in the most cunning way possible. That woman had always found ways to get into your skin without even trying hard, leaving you to question her intentions as her words held riddles you could not fully understand. And more often than not, it came in the form of flirting, a nightmare that you had to work with.

And now, she was leaning against the door frame of your office, clearly having just gotten from a mission assigned by Elio, given how she looked more beaten up than usual. Her velvet coat was worse than how she liked them, the end of it being slightly burned.

“What are you up to, our dear treasure?~” She asked, her voice sickeningly sweet to the ear.

You were writing a report to Elio. He had tasked you with a new research project, an artificial body that could hold a Stellaron inside it, which you began 4 months ago, just after the newest member, Silver Wolf, joined the faction. The research was coming smoothly, just like the half-written report in front of you before she decided to visit your office, of all places.

“Things.”

“Aw… can’t even give me a more interesting answer than that, dear?” She said, finally entering the room and closing the door behind her.

Used to your indifference to her word, she walked up to your desk, standing in front of you on the other end. She watched, even if she was not one to be interested in your line of work. But she knew your work was top secret, even for the second-in-command: her.

"How's that new research been going? Anything interesting you can share with dear old me?" She asked, her voice calm and alluring. And when you did not respond, she continued. "If I were to guess...it has been going on for four months, correct?"

Perceptive as always, you noted, as you continued to write the report without even giving her a second of your time. She somehow always managed to notice when you started working on something new pretty quickly, even if you or Elio told no one about what was being made.

"..." You chose silence, not giving in to her questioning. Her gaze remained fixed on you, and you wondered if she would give up sooner or later.

But before you knew it, she had already placed a finger under your chin and lifted your face up to look at her. Those pinkish eyes scanned your face with a wide smile.

She had you exactly where she wanted, but to you, she was a hindrance to you doing your work.

“I have work to do, Kafka.” You voiced your annoyance, stating the obvious.

“Oh, but dear, I missed you greatly, our dear doctor.” And she replied, stating something quite obvious as well.

You scoffed at those words, having heard them from her millions of times by now, and smacked her finger away to look back down at the report. Elio suddenly wanted one out of the blue, and you were not one to delay work due to someone trying to flirt with you.

You had hoped you got the message through to her as you were about to write the next word on your mind, Kafka's voice rang through the air.

“Listen: Look at me, Doctor.”

Words couldn’t describe how fast you reacted to her words. Your mind paused, your grip on the pen loosened, and your eyes unfocused momentarily. It was like a sudden transition screen appeared in your mind, moving your focus from the report to her.

You immediately looked up from the report to meet her pleased expression.

She made her way around your desk to where you were sitting, her strides slow and deliberate. Your eyes followed her, watching how she casually invaded your personal space.

Then, as easy as it was to make you obey her, she swiftly rotated your chair to face her and placed her knee on its edge, parting your legs so you had nowhere to run. She leaned in close, one of her hands holding the arm of the chair to keep her steady while the other held your chin, forcing you to look up at her from your seat.

“Now that’s better, isn’t it?” She said, her hand on your chin, dropping down to push you further into your chair, making you lean back into it. Then she leaned down too close to your face, whispering in your ears.

“That's right. Keep both your eyes and all of your attention on me~”

You stared up at her, swallowing hard as you saw her eyes looking you up and down. Taking in everything that made her Kafka, unable to look away under her spell. You couldn’t resist, you knew you couldn’t. You sucked in the air, smelling her faded perfume. She was clearly abusing her ability, even squinting her eyes to emphasize the irony of the predicament you were in.

“Our lovely doctor inventions sure are working well, don’t you think, dear?” She asked, referring to you in the third person just to rile you up.

You cursed under your breath. You had made those contact lenses mere months after joining, so her Spirit Whisper would be more powerful and effective, increasing its range to a massive degree. And ironically, she was now using it against you.

“What do you want?” You asked, feeling her hand snake up your neck to your chin, her well-manicured fingers gazing against your skin.

“You, our dear doctor.” Kafka replied, her words almost echoing in your head.

You didn't react to her words, given that it was not the first time she had voiced her attraction to you; in fact, even someone like Elio had commented on it. He was fine with it, but were you? No, because she was a hindrance to you, especially since she had always chosen when you were most busy to bother you.

You knew you lost, but the spell was only specific about your eyes, not your mouth.

“Enough—”

“Kafka.” A less familiar voice echoed throughout the room, followed by a metallic smell of blood. You didn't even need to look to recognize the owner of said voice. If you were to guess, he would be covered in blood right now, both in his and his enemies, and was now holding a bunch of swords in his hand (you had witnessed his habit of collecting the weapons of those he killed more than enough by now).

Kafka hummed, releasing her hold of your chin before standing up straight and turning over to look at him. You could see her eyebrows slightly raised from the appearance of the man; was it amusement? Endearment? Or confusion?

“Report to Elio.” He said.

His words were short but enough for you to guess that Kafka had run straight to you after finishing the mission instead of going to Elio’s office to report like she usually did. Even so, the man was not holding a Stellaron either, so he must have given it to Destiny's Slave already.

“I thought you said that you were going to report to him for me, Bladie.” She raised a question, turning her body slightly to face Blade, but her knee was still placed between your legs, keeping you in place.

“Elio said I needed to get cleaned up and healed.”

“...” Kafka's smile twitched slightly, seemingly displeased about this whole arrangement. She then turned to you with a fake disappointed expression. “Well then, I’ll be going then, don’t miss me too much, our dear treasure~”

She leaned down to place a kiss on your cheek, to which you sneered. She only smiled and removed herself from your personal space. Now that you could sit back up straight, you noticed the Stellaron Hunter seemed to linger a bit.

“Elio won’t be pleased if you keep being slow.” You said, urging her to finally get the hell out of your office. Kafka turned to you, her eyebrows raised. She clearly wasn't expecting you to be the one urging her right now.

“Yeah, yeah, just make sure to take care of our Bladie for me. He'll be sad if you're cold to him, Doctor.” She said, and you rolled your eyes.

She looked disinterested in you expressing your annoyance, instead planting a kiss on Blade's cheek before actually leaving to go to Elio’s office. Now, only you and Blade were in the room. You watched as he put those swords down in a corner before approaching you. He was indeed covered in blood, his attire slashed and burnt in several places, revealing even more ruined bandages and scars

His red eyes were cold and lifeless, looking down at you as he stood before you in the very spot Kafka was in, just a little further away, enough that the blood on his body would not come into contact with you.

His wounds and attire suggested damages done mostly by bullets and bombs, his skin burnt and missing, but why were the more fresh cuts looked more from a bladed weapon?

You were going to turn on your ability and scan him further, but he interrupted you.

“Heal. Don't waste time, Doctor.”

His words were as short as always, as he presented one of his hands in front of you. It was awfully clean, compared to the rest of his body. You took that he cleaned it before coming here, which was awfully considerate of him.

He didn't need healing from you; you both knew that. But it had been found that your ability mends his broken body better than his self-healing would ever achieve, to the point that even some scars faded away. Especially small or non-threatening ones, since those healed at a normal human rate. Since that was discovered (Elio probably knew but just let you discover that on your own, something about you needs to discover the extent of your ability), Blade frequented your office, especially after a bloody mission.

You took the outstretched hand and closed your eyes. Holding his hand in between yours, you felt a surge of power rise in your body, the warm sensation spreading throughout as you poured your power into Blade. You never knew how much you needed to spend on that man, given the severity of his injuries always varied.

Being the doctor of the Stellaron Hunters, Blade was your most consistent ‘patient’, always full of injuries from mission and training alike. But he was the easiest out of all of them, with most of his visits being short and simple. He went in, you healed him, asked one or two questions that he barely answered before he was out in less than 5 minutes, unless you had to change his bandages, of course.

Kafka was, unexpectedly, annoying; always lingering in your office even though you had done your job, or she didn’t even need to be healed. So every time she appeared in your workspace, you just knew the work you did that day was immediately half as efficient.

Silver Wolf, on the other hand, came to you even with the most minor injuries, a small paper cut, scratches, or her fingers feeling numb after playing games for hours on end. Or when she got hurt during a mission and couldn’t run to you right away, she would send her ‘friends’ to inform you of such ‘tragedy', flooding your computer with messages. You at first found it cute until it happened almost every time she went on a mission. Still cute, but could happen less often.

And Firefly... Well. She was technically the patient you had for the 'longest'. You had been working on her health for a better part of 3 years, since the moment you joined. You checked on her regularly, always setting aside time to research her situation. It had not yielded any noteworthy results, but since Elio never stopped you, you continued anyway. She was always curious about the human body and the aspect of being able to 'live' a normal life, and you became her teacher of sorts.

Compared to those 4, Elio simply showed up for monthly check-ups, even though there had been a running joke about whether you had the qualifications to examine that 'Elio' since you were not a vet. But your ability was good enough.

That was how it was with your coworker; if you all weren't on a mission, you would make jokes that only other Stellaron Hunters would understand. It was a bond that undoubtedly made all of you closer, given each and every one of you had more goals than just collecting Stellarons.

After a minute or two of thinking about your other Stellaron Hunters, you opened your eyes and retracted your hands. You scanned his body, and you proudly found that the visible wounds on his body had now vanished, only leaving the smell of blood in the air.

"Even if I already healed you, there may be some infections from the burns and exposed wounds. I'll prepare some antibiotics later. You can pick them up after dinner." You added, writing it down.

His hand went back to his side, but when you expected him to muttered some words before leaving to take a shower so his bandages could be changed; only silence was heard. He was lingering in your office longer than usual (even if the rate had gone up over time).

“Blade?” You asked, looking up at him from your seat, wondering what was wrong, only to see his eyes pouring holes into your body. You were more than familiar with how… intrusive the Stellaron Hunter’s stare could get, but this was on a whole other level than what you had experienced before.

The silence between you two stretched on, both not the type to care for social cues.

“...Thank you…” He finally muttered and turned around to leave, picking up the pile of swords of those he had killed.

You noted that it was almost the time of the year when he returned to that place to add the new swords to the countless that lay across the field. Having been there before, you could only ponder how such a man had murdered so many people. But you knew little about him.

You sighed after you watched Blade exit your office, returning it to its former quiet state. You turned your chair, looking at the half-written report before you, detailing what you had been researching for the past few months. Your new creation, the fruit of your labor and research coming to its full glory, just like in Elio’s script.

Chapter Text

Blade…

He was really something, someone you could never truly grasp. Maybe because he was an immortal, or you simply hadn’t known him that well. Before, he had never really visited your office other than for the monthly check-up that Elio had ordered every member to have.

The reason? It was because he thought that a person like him simply didn’t need to resort to your healing powers, at least that was what you heard from his own mouth.

You had seen his self-healing close-up, and you knew that his opinion was true. 2 years ago, you asked him a question at the end of what was a rare visit from him back then, and less than 5 seconds later, he had already pierced himself in the chest.

The memories of the event were as clear as yesterday. His cracked sword was impaled into what should have been his left lung, inches away from his heart. The sound of his ribs shattering, failing to protect what they were made to do rang in your ears every now and then. His breath shortened a little, and blood spewed from the wound, dripping down the weapon.

Any normal person would have died from it, with major blood vessels damaged, bleeding out in a matter of minutes. But no, he pulled the sword out as if nothing happened, only providing you with a small grunt of annoyance. And just like that, you watched the wound slowly close itself up, fibers of flesh reattaching to each other, sealing the hole that was in his chest. Now come to think of it, you didn’t even see what his expression was since your eyes were glued on his chest where the wound had completely disappeared.

“Satisfied?” That was the question he had asked you that day, his voice deep and brooding. But you didn’t offer him an answer, and that remained one of the unspoken moments that had happened between you.

And at that, you completed the report that you were planning to give to Elio. You sat back with a sigh, holding the 3-page report in your hand. Why was Blade on your mind? He was already out of your office 10 minutes ago.

You waved that thought away and stood up, placing the things on your desk back into their proper places. You had somehow failed to notice that Kafka had messed up where you normally placed your pens when she was in your office.

It had seemed like both of the Stellaron Hunters had made your mind wander more often than it normally would.

Even so, you had a report to submit and Elio’s plan on that child(your newest creation) to worry about right now, so you got out of your office in no time and headed to Elio’s office.

The Stellaron Hunters’ HQ was in space, which helped with concealing its whereabouts from possible enemies and bounty hunters. You remembered being in awe when you first walked through these corridors, mesmerized by the vast universe that was outside of where you now call 'home'.

It was facilitated with everything one could possibly need, spacious yet not too tedious to navigate, even if it took you a few months to stop being lost and having to resort to texting Kafka for directions. Silver Wolf never had that problem, or anyone really, so you were on your own on this one. But it was now close to your third year of being a Stellaron Hunter, the days of admiring the ocean of darkness through the fortified glasses and wondering what Elio had to offer were far behind you.

In less than 5 minutes, you arrived in front of a mechanical door. Three knocks and a pause, that was how you signaled Elio that it was 'you' outside of his office’s door. Every member was unique after all, even the way each of you announced your presence was different from the others.

The door quickly opened and you stepped into the room, report in hand. Before you were Destiny’s Slave himself, the man/cat who had invited you to join him and become a Stellaron Hunter.

“I bring the report of the process of the artificial body.” You said as you closed the door behind you, making your way to the front of his desk.

The cat simply nodded, sitting quietly on his desk as you placed the report in front of him.

Elio was…an enigma, one that you dared not to question. He had proven himself over and over again, after all.

He was a generous man and he knew how to keep you working for the Stellaron Hunters. All the research projects and inventions he had asked of you were always successful, but he never told you when it would be completed.

You knew it wouldn’t be a fruitless waste of time if the thing you were working on were his order or approved by him, but he had ensured that your curiosity and pride as a doctor and researcher were satisfied. Never once did he tell you how to approach a topic or a new thing he had brought you.

Elio had only piped your curious mind further every time while keeping you on your toes about all the things you could accomplish, given you had chosen to work under him. And because of that, you had poured hours and hours of your time and grey matter into every research without worry, not only did that benefit the Hunters but it also satisfied your own need for knowledge and inventions.

“Good job.” Elio offered you a small compliment as he stared at the stack of paper, not even bothering to check it. He was tapping on the screen on his devices with his paw, and you guessed he was looking at the script he had foreseen for the child.

“What do you plan to do with that child?” You asked, wanting to know more.

“Stelle.” He answered, and your eyebrows raised at the sudden name.

“That child's name from now on shall be Stelle.” Elio added, barely glancing at your confused face.

'Stelle', The name of the artificial body you had created, one that could hold a Stellaron. You muttered the name under your breath, seeing how it rolled off the tongue. ‘Stelle’.

You heard that name before, somewhere…

“Star…”

“Yes, that child’s name means 'Star'.”

You paused, thinking about his words for a few seconds before returning your attention to Elio.

"And are you satisfied with that name?”

"Yes, but you haven't answered my previous question."

Elio didn't react to your words, only silently staring at you from his position. When you realized he wasn't going to answer, you quickly sighed and nodded, to which the cat smiled contently.

“Good then, you are dismissed.” Elio said, placing a paw on the report, clearly signaling to you that he was done with it. and you took it, without questioning why he didn’t even bother checking the content. Maybe he knew it would result in success either way.

You quickly exited his office and walked back to yours, but your mind was wondering about that child. Stelle… That child would come to life in about a month, her body already stable and in healthy condition, it was exciting, especially for you.

5:00 pm, Stellaron Hunter’s HQ.

You told yourself as you looked at your phone and opened the door to your office. The time you usually clocked out was never set, given how your office was seen as a doctor's office and your coworkers came to visit even when it was almost 9 pm sometimes. Consequently, your devices were never on 'Do not disturb'.

“Took you long enough.”

The sudden voice made your heart jump out of your chest and you immediately pulled out your gun. Your eyes were locked on your phone before this and you didn’t sense anyone's presence in the room. But before you did anything, your brain realized that Blade was sitting on the exam table, unamused.

You glared at the man, who was, well, unashamedly half-naked in your office, a towel on his shoulders that caught wet droplets of water from his damp hair. You were away for less than 15 minutes, so your best guess was that he had taken a shower to wash away the blood before making his way to your office.

“Bandages.” He said and you sighed at the short sentence he had given you.

“Blade…at least text me when… Never mind.” You put your weapon away and placed the report on your table. When had he even bothered using his phone?

You had assigned an adjective or phrase to each of your coworkers. If Kafka was annoying, then Blade was dangerously unnerving.

That was enough to describe what you felt at the moment. His eyes were red like crimson blood that seemed to always be on your body whenever he was near. They followed you around, watching your every movement, like he was going to strike the moment something came up. It was like you were being hunted, and one wrong move could cost you more than you ever imagined.

And the fact you had witnessed him fight before didn’t help with that feeling at all, seeing him bring countless fighters and enemies to dust; swords and weapons of those fallen from his sword littered on what could only be described as a figurative graveyard, a field that showed the prize for every battle he had won.

Or him being half-naked was easing it either. Have you seen him in this state before? Yes, yes you have, and there were even times when you saw Blade when he’d just got out of the shower, a towel around his waist as you tried your best not to comment on it while changing his bandages.

A body of a soldier, well-built and full of scars, you would be lying if you didn’t find him attractive, but you had a standard that you upheld.

But just like how you got used to being a Stellaron Hunter and no longer got lost, you had gotten used to both his gaze and him almost always being half-naked in your office whenever he visited. (The act is necessary, you reminded yourself.)

So instead of admiring his 6-pack, or his biceps, or just him in general, you reached for the fresh bandages in one of the cabinets. You did heal him earlier, and he was more capable of redoing his bandages himself, but you never really questioned his decision to have you do it instead.

You walked over and took a seat in front of him, between his legs because they were spreading, moving the lever up so the chair could be of preferable height. Settling the bandages next to you, you got to work.

Even so, you could feel his unwavering eyes on the top of your head as you worked your way with the bandages. You knew his preferences, where you needed to bandage him, and where he just seemed to like it there as decoration of some sort.

'Bladie has a particular style.' That was what Kafka told you, those words ringing in your ear as you wrapped a bandage around Blade’s chest.

And after a quick 5 minutes, you sat back on the chair and eyed his body again, scanning it to see if you had missed a spot. You didn’t, because you knew Blade enough to know your work was satisfactory.

“And done.” You announced and looked up at him, just to see his eyes pouring into yours.

“...” He was silent, just like when you had healed him earlier. He wasn’t like this before, but you had noticed how the frequency of his visits and the time he lingered in your office had steadily increased over the past few months. It was unlike him, but the way he acted hadn't changed, so there wasn't an accurate conclusion you could muster up.

And just like that, you two entered a little staring contest as you stared up at him as he looked down at you, both not moving from their respective spot. It felt like Blade was stealing your energy, like a vampire, sucking you in, making sure you became hyper-aware of his presence. You felt it, his presence, taking up a space in your office, becoming a familiar sight. His eyes scanned your face, barely blinking as you felt naked before his peering gaze.

The mara that haunted him wasn’t flaring up, given he was with Kafka earlier and your power had been proven to have a positive effect on him, so you couldn’t think of why he was doing this.

At one point, you could even see him leaning in just ever so closer. You didn’t know what he was going to do—

Click

The door to your office was opened and you broke eye contact to turn to the door. Silver Wolf, who was glued to her phone, entered your office without knocking, just like always.

She raised a hand up, a silent 'Excuse me' as she looked up from her phone to your desk (where you usually sit).

“Oi, Doctor! Help! I need—” She said as she turned her head to look for you before pausing. Silver Wolf took a few seconds to assess whether what she was seeing before her was true, and just, turned around and started walking out the way she came in.

“—I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything!” She yelled out in a high-pitched tone before closing the door more silently than ever.

“...”

“...”

You stared at the door for a good minute, contemplating what the heck just happened. Then, you turned to look at Blade, noticing him still looking at you with that deadpan face he always had.

“Are you not satisfied yet?” You finally asked, given how he was still there, in front of you. He stayed silent for a few seconds, his eyes darting up and down your face before he opened his mouth to speak.

“Thank you.” He muttered as he pushed your chair a little back and got off the exam table. He was quick when making his exit now that Silver Wolf had witnessed the little moment that happened between the two of you.

Click

And when the door closed, you noted to add this to the collection of the unspoken moments that had happened between you and Blade. You didn't know if you liked the fact that you somehow had enough moments with him to actually make a collection or not.

Chapter Text

Your vision was a little blurry. This room... it had been a while since you had been there. How long had it been, 10, 15 years maybe? A classroom, a very familiar one, this was where you got your dream of being the greatest doctor. Because you would be able to heal the wounds on your forearms right now.

Smacks

A metal ruler hit your skin and you flinched in pain, and the number of lines on your wrists right now was uncountable.

"You think your feeble dream would be fulfilled if you slacked around like this?"

"N-No...Ma'am" You replied unconsciously, even if you thought you had outlearned that habit by now.

"Then make sure you study hard, then... So these shameful wounds wouldn't linger on your skin or that ...."

You could not hear the last word spilling out of that woman's mouth as everything before you became black.

The pain you once felt was no more, those wounds had healed long ago, and even the scars were gone. Even so, this nightmare always came back to haunt you, reminding you where you were before, and how that classroom was where you had awoken to the path of Abundance all those years ago.

"Those who follow the 'Abundance' Path admire selflessness, altruism, and healing behavior."

Those words echoed in your mind, ingrained into your very flesh and bones like a scar that persists even with your power. But the reason you had awakened the path didn't really follow the same idea. Maybe because in your mind, you got your healing powers purely out of selfish reasons. Because you needed that healing for yourself.

“Are you awake yet, sweetheart?” A sweet voice called out for you in your sleep.

‘No…’ You wanted to tell whoever that voice belonged to because a part of you wished to stay in this dark space, to escape from reality. That repetitive dream hadn't bothered you in a while, but you still felt agitated by it.

” If you don’t wake up, I’ll make our Bladie kiss you~”

That voice called out to you again, those words urging you to wake up.

You slowly opened your eyes, the room wasn’t bright, well, at least the lights were not directly in your face. You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and looked up at what should be the ceiling of Silver Wolf’s room to see a smiling Kafka instead.

“...Kaf...” You muttered as confusion surged inside you.

“Is my lap that comfortable? If so, I’m flattered, darling~”

You squinted your eyes as Kafka reached out to caress your face. Her fingers touched your cheeks, the usual fabric of her gloves that separated your skin's nonexistence as you felt your facial muscles relax. Your skin heated up to match her body temperature, and Aeons, you felt even more sleepy than before.

“Aren’t they so cute when they’re confused, Bladie?” Kafka smiled and looked to your right, to which you instinctively turned your head.

There he was, lying sideways with his head propped on his hand, looking down at you. Blade seemed to completely ignore Kafka’s comment about your sleepy form or the fact that she was going to order him to kiss you if you continued to stay asleep.

He just stared, not even blinking once, but you couldn’t really make out what he was feeling. Was it indifference or disinterest? You cannot tell. Blade was always hard to figure out, especially at your current state, so you turned your head to look back at Kafka instead. She already had her contacts on (why, it was so early in the morning (you were assuming)), but you were more adept at reading her than Blade. Still not ideal, but you were always the type to take what you were given.

She was still smiling, as if she knew you would turn to her every time you had a question, which you did.

“Is it morning?” You asked in a raspy voice, you really needed water.

“It’s the next day.” Kafka answered as her hand continued to stroke your cheek. You would have scolded her any other day, but right now, you were too out of it to stop her actions.

You darted your eyes away from Kafka's presence and realized a few facts:
1. You were still in Silver Wolf’s room, which you were grateful for.
2. Your throat was dry, and you needed water desperately.
3. Silver Wolf was currently hugging your left side as she snoozed away.
4. Firefly was nowhere to be found.
5. Elio was sleeping on you, given the black loaf that was currently on your chest.
6. And that you all had a sleepover with your coworkers.

You sighed, water was your priority, but you couldn’t do anything with Elio restricting your movements. You stroked the cat's back in the hope that he would wake up and get off so you could go and drench your thirst, but Blade had already picked the cat up by the back of his neck, and you could hear an angry hiss from Elio.

You sat and looked at him, wanting to at least mutter a thank you, just to see that even though Elio's claws were attempting to scratch his face, he was still looking at you, while you felt Kafka's hand leave your cheek.

It was a gentle way to wake up in the morning, but Aeons… How the hell did you end up in this situation?

“210 combos…Tch…”

“No new records yet?”

The silver-haired girl shook her head, hand gripping her phone, eyes squinting at the screen. She had been doing this for the past 20 minutes, commenting on how her skills had gotten worse these days. Something about all the open-world games being released recently getting all of her attention.

“Ugh… What's wrong with me today?”

“Maybe I could do a check-up for you right now?” You joked with a smile.

Silver Wolf scoffed at your words, and the same music played again.

You were hanging out with Silver Wolf and, surprisingly, Elio in the hacker’s room, lying on a makeshift bed on the floor. It had been an uneventful hour since the three of you had gathered, simply enjoying each other's presence.

The main topic of discussion had been the mission that Firefly was on, and you thank Yaoshi that Silver Wolf hadn’t brought up your interaction with Blade a few hours ago.

Purrs.

The cat on your lap was purring contentedly as you stroked his back. The cat shape-shifter had chosen to be lazy today. Elio could speak even in this form, but he simply chose not to most of the time, opting to make cat noises to convince you to pet him instead of playing games with Silver Wolf.

And it worked, one of your hands was so occupied with him that the amount of missed notes on the screen immensely increased, and you lost your game quickly after that.

Of course, the screen at the end showed that you had missed half of the notes, and Silver Wolf sighed before reaching her hand out to see how you were fairing, just to chuckle at your score.

“What?”

“You suck at this type of game.”

“Sorry that I wasn’t the smart and capable Silver Wolf.”

You could see her roll her eyes, and you patted her on the head. She was like a little sister to you, adorable and in a way, childish. Then you heard a small purr from Elio since you had stopped petting him to pat Silver Wolf's head. You returned to massaging the cat’s head as he rolled over on his belly on your lap.

You smiled at the act and rubbed his belly too, and Elio seemed to get more sleepy even though it was barely 7 pm. At least he was fluffy and soft, so he was way easier to forgive than some other members... Speaking of which, you three hadn’t had dinner yet, and if you knew those two well, you were the only one willing to go make food right now.

“Dinner?”

“Pizza.”

“Pizza.”

“Pizza it is then.”

Hearing that, Elio lazily jumped from your lap so you could stand up. You patted Silver Wolf's head one last time before making your way to the door. You put on your shoes and made your way to the kitchen as you heard Silver Wolf’s groaning about missing another combo.

Guess you would have to act like the oldest today, just for those two …

But once you arrived at the kitchen, Kafka and Blade came out from opposite directions with pizzas on a tray in their hands, well, in Blade's hands.

“Good seeing you here, our dear doctor~”

Kafka said with a mischievous smile as Blade kicked the door to the kitchen shut.

You stared at the pizzas in their hands, perplexed. They had… 3, which were the last of the pizzas that the Hunters had, for now.

“Did you just… cook all of the pizzas we have?”

Kafka slightly tilted her head. “Yes? Do you want them?”

You frowned at her words, convinced that Elio had told Kafka what you would do this evening. What were those two planning anyway…

"... Did he tell you?” You asked.

"Does it matter if he did?" She flashed you that iconic smile of hers. "After all, right now I only need to know if you want the pizzas or not?"

Kafka’s reply made you realize that no, it didn’t matter that Elio had told them, it mattered now that the remaining 3 pizzas in the kitchen were in their hands. You made a note to go get more later on.

"...Yes."

Kafka’s smile became wider, and you reached your hand out to Blade for the pizzas, thinking that it was her confirmation to let you have some. But then, she put her hand up between you and Blade, to which you immediately frowned, of course, Kafka would not just let you get what you want.

“I can let you have some… for a price~”

You knew those words would come out of her mouth, and you sighed at your past self for thinking she would let you have your way just this one time.

“Which is?”

“Let me and Blade join you three.”

“...”

“...Huh?”

You were sure you made an extremely confused face when Kafka actually started laughing. That was an… pretty normal request, even less odd than what you had in mind.

“Is that a yes, darling?”

“... Let me text the others first.”

Kafka chuckled and shook her head as you pulled out your phone and grabbed it out of your hand. And she started walking, hand grabbing yours to turn you away from the kitchen, Blade following you two from behind.

“Hey! What do you think—”

“Why not just go and ask them ourselves? Surely it would take a while for Silver Wolf and Elio to reply?”

Kafka walked without looking back at you and Blade. Her stride persisted even when you stumbled a little on your feet as she made a turn. You found no fault in her logic, even with how you usually were, you kept your mouth closed until Silver Wolf's room was in sight.

Without knocking, Kafka opened the door and took her shoes off, confident that her request wouldn’t be turned down.

“Back so early— What the hell?”

Silver Wolf looked up from her game console, probably switching to it in utter frustration from the previous game. Elio rolled lazily onto his back and looked at us three. And surprisingly, Firefly was also there, playing on her phone, probably joining the other two while you were away. (She looked stable.) You also took off your shoes while Blade stood in the hallway, pizzas in his hands.

“Unfortunately, Blade and I had already baked the rest of the pizzas we had, so I figured that the six of us should have a little hangout?”

Silver Wolf and Firefly turned their heads to look at you, to which you could only muster an apologetic smile. They were quite forgiving, especially since they knew how Kafka was. Elio simply didn't care.

“I’m fine with that.”

“Me too.”

After the two agreed to the deal, Kafka turned to you, waiting for your answer. You hesitantly nodded, which earned you a smile from her as you two walked further into the room. Kafka sat down on the makeshift bed, eyes darting around to judge what masterpiece you three (two, because Elio did not contribute) had thrown together earlier.

As for Blade, he easily kicked off his shoes and joined the five of you as the tray of pizzas was put onto the ground. The smell of delicious dinner filled the air. SW attempted to reach for one before Kafka slapped her hand away.

“Go wash your hands, all of you.” Her voice suddenly changed to serious as SW waved her hand, acting as if the slap hurt more than it looked. It was funny.

“Whatever you say, Mom.” Silver Wolf said as you all made your way to the bathroom, washing your hands. Looking around and seeing your coworkers take off their gloves and even bandages(Blade) was quite ridiculous, which made this hygienic act more of a hassle for most of you.

After the whole ‘You all need to wash your hands before dinner’ from Kafka, all six of you sat on the floor of SW’s room as you ate the pizzas.

The night went by in a frenzy; it was mostly chatter and games. You, Silver Wolf, and Firefly totally crushed that new game that just came out, and Elio even managed to win the 50/50 on Silver Wolf's behalf.

It was lots of fun, but you swore you saw Blade eyeing Elio who was on your lap, receiving head scratches.

In the end, Firefly returned to Sam and excused themself, and you quickly fell asleep after that. You remembered laying down on a pillow, Silver Wolf to your left and a cat on your chest as you drifted off to sleep.

And that was what you recalled from the night before, but that wasn’t how you woke up. You thought about it as you drank another cup of water, standing in front of the fridge while Blade was nearby, chopping up some fruit. Probably for Kafka, you told yourself.

It was strange, you didn’t remember sleeping on Kafka’s lap or being that close to Blade.

Sure Silver Wolf nudged up close when she slept, but that was a habit you knew all too well, and the fact Elio slept on your chest didn’t bother you that much.

But Kafka and Blade? Those two did.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" The sudden voice snapped you out of your trance of thought. Your head turned over to look at Blade, who wasn't even looking at you.

"... Does it matter?" You asked, putting the cup away.

"..."

And there he was again, all mysterious and distant. You checked your phone, and the time on the screen was displayed as 7:08 am. You woke up around the same time you would, did Kafka know your habit that well?

As you thought about some of your more noticeable habits that your coworkers may have picked up, a fruit suddenly landed on your lips, and you instinctively opened your mouth to bite down on it.

“...?” The taste was sweet, and as you chewed, the juice burst in your mouth with every crunch. You turned your head to see Kafka’s finger lingering in the air, she had fed you an apple slice.

She was pretty content with the fact that she had caught you off guard, her lips curling up to a grin as you swallowed.

“Our doctor looks so cute when they have something in their mouth, don’t you think, Bladie?”

You tilted your head a little to see Blade still cutting fruits, but you did pick up what she meant, that cheeky woman. As you were busy wondering what Blade's reaction would be, she reached for another slice and placed it between your lips.

But before you could even bite into it, she leaned in closer, taking half of the apple slice with her teeth, her lips gently gazing at yours. She quickly leaned back and pushed what remained into your mouth, which you were too shocked to even resist.

“What was that for?” you asked, your voice a little muffled from the piece of fruit in your mouth.

“Giving you a little heads up of what it’s like to kiss me.”

Her words left you speechless as Blade just handed you another piece. You attempted to leave right after, more than unamused by this point, but you felt your hand grabbed by someone.

"Hey…"

You turned your head to look at Blade, who was staring at you with those intrusive eyes of his again. It felt like he was doing that more often these days.

"Here…"

Then you saw that he had handed you a bowl full of fruits. You took it, even though your assumption that he was making it for Kafka was still there.

"Aren't these for Kafka?" You asked with raised eyebrows.

The two chuckled as Kafka walked past Blade and fed you another piece of fruit. You felt that those two had some arrangements you were not aware of. Was Blade helping Kafka earn points from you?

"No, our silly doctor, this… is for you"

Her words got you thinking, was there a second meaning to it? You decided to leave that question for later, because even if you were not exactly sure what those two were up to, at least they made you something to eat.

"... Thank you both then." You muttered as you chewed.

Blade had already turned around and started cutting some more fruits, and Kafka was already trying to feed you some more, to which you refused.

"Ah also… There's an emergency meeting at 8:30"

Kafka's words almost made you choke on some grapes.

"Ah… I forgot to inform you since you fell asleep before I could-" You rushed off without needing to hear any more of her words. This must be a meeting about Stelle. It had to be. The timing just made sense. You needed to go prepare. Whether it would just be a simple announcement or a full discussion of plans for the child did not matter. You were excited to no end.

Chapter Text

…

With all certainty, that was the worst thing you have ever heard out of Elio’s mouth.

“So you’re saying…” Kafka’s smug voice rang out next to you as you tried to comprehend what your ‘Boss’ just said.

“T-That—absurd!” You yelled out.

You stood up from your chair, sending it back. Elio simply continued to groom himself at that, not even barely phrase by your reaction.

“Listen: No need to get agitated, dear, we still have a lot to discuss in this meeting.”

Your frustration diminishing by the second at her voice as you scoffed and pulled your chair back into its place, sitting down obediently.

“As I said, Kafka will be in charge of taking care of Stelle, while you and Blade will have to pair up in the meantime.”

Elio repeated the plan to you, as you placed your hand over your eyes, already feeling a migraine manifesting on the side of your head. You didn’t even dare to look over at Blade.

Did Elio really expect you to just accept that fact?

5 minutes earlier.

Elio’s office. 8:29 am.

All the Stellaron Hunters had gathered around a large rectangular table, each taking their own respective seat.

You were sitting next to Kafka, while the others sat opposite to you, with Elio at the head of the table. Just like what the woman next to you said, you were surely the last to know there was supposed to even be a meeting this morning.

Silver Wolf was on her phone, showing Sam something. You guessed she got a rare drop, even if there no recognizable reaction from Sam. Blade was inspecting his sword, while you sat up straight, waiting for the meeting to start.

As the 8:30 mark hit, Elio finally spoke, starting the meeting.

“We’re here to discuss the artificial body capable of holding a Stellaron that our Doctor successfully created.”

At those words, everyone's attention was on the man, especially yours. This was something you had been working on for the past few months, ordered to be kept a secret from all of your coworkers. What plan did Destiny’s Slave himself have for your creation that you had worked almost half a year on? What purpose will your new creation serve in the grand scheme of the Universe? You wanted to know.

Thousand of questions were raised in your head as you awaited Elio’s words. His head turned in your direction, those green feline eyes staring at you, and your eyes gleamed in curiosity.

“Kafka will be in charge of taking care of Stelle, and Blade will be paired up with you in the meantime.” he spoke.

…

… …

… … …

“Excuse me?” You asked, eyebrows raised. Elio stayed silent, and your face scrunched up. “Did you just say… that Stelle will be handed over to Kafka and I would be paired up with Blade?”

Elio nodded. Elio f-ing nodded.

Now instead of questions, millions of concerning thoughts flood your mind.

“But—” You paused. Losing your composure was something you had in mind today, so you took a second to rephrase your concerns. Everyone was focusing on you now, and you did not have time to get teased later because of your outburst.

“... What about the Mara?” You asked calmly after a few moments of self-regulation.

“The Mara can be managed with your power, even if it wasn’t as effective as mine, Doctor. You’re the only one besides me who could even calm it down, well, without incapacitating him.” Kafka answered, stating a fact that every Stellaron Hunter knew.

The room was deafeningly silent after that, you sat back on your chair as you recollected your thoughts. Your healing power may be able to quiet the monsters that rested inside Blade, but no one actually knew to what extent. Enough to keep him at bay for a long time? Just barely so someone could come and help in case something happened?

What if Blade becomes mara-stricken in the middle of a mission? Kafka would not be there since Elio said she would be taking care of Stelle, and you were not even confident in your abilities to keep him from going rampant.

“Then, what do you think, Blade?” Elio’s question broke the silence as everyone turned to look at Blade.

His eyes were closed like he was contemplating. You had hopes that he would refuse, or voice his annoyance in having to work with you instead of Kafka.

You two hardly worked together, and you hardly ever even go on a mission. It was clear whatever 'ending' that came out of this proposal would have uncertain results. Heck, everything about the proposal was uncertain and risky.

Uncertainty was the worst. Uncertainty could lead to lost of a life. Uncertainty could make one fail to save others. Uncertainty were a hinderance to the progress of inventions. It was a human nature to detest uncertainty, and you were no different. You hated uncertainty, you hated feeling uncertain, and everything about the proposal was that, an uncertainty to you. And Blade was the only thing in this exact moment that could even give you an ounce of certainty you had been desperately craving since this meeting started. You were certain that he would not accept the proposal.

“I’m fine with the arrangement.”

… …

“That’s settled then.”

… …

The meeting continued, but you extremely were out of it.

You walked into this meeting certain that you would not be affected. Heck, you were certain anything about this meeting would be quite positive for you. Why would Elio need to summon everyone other than to announce something big? You were never needed on those missions anyway, mostly seeing the aftermath and conclusion to the 'scripts'.

You loved the fact that you did not have to go on missions as often as others, allowed to cooped up in your lab to create whatever Elio had requested. It was the excitement of creating something that you craved, you lived for the journey of starting at 0 and finishing at 100, a process that usually takes weeks, months, or even years to fully happen.

And you felt 'good' doing that. Elio and his script and your work provided you with the certainty that you liked.

But being on missions was different. Sure it had its excitement, but you dreaded it. One second and the situation could turn sour, changing too fast, too often for your liking. Because uncertainty terrified you, because it reminded you of how you felt when you were still in that classroom.

You hated how uncertain you were back then, uncertain if you would even achieve your dreams as you dealt with the devilish nightmare that was your childhood. Uncertain that you would be successful enough to even escape that woman’s shadow and control. Uncertain about everything and anything that your brain did not fully grasp.

And the habit of avoiding uncertainty was why you hung out with Silver Wolf and Sam more than with Blade and Kafka. They were in a sense: predictable, you knew how they would react, and would do, and the fact they were not a threat (to your principles). They made you certain about what you were doing because you were certain about them.

Or why you were more comfortable with Elio in a sense. You could never predict anything about that man, but the fact he had plans to help you with your goals comforted you. The years of working under him had given you more certainty than you could ever dream of.

But the other two?

A sociopath who could not feel fear and a Mara-struck that could go insane at any moment if not for the above-mentioned woman.

Let alone the uncertainty you had of what they were up to lately, and the fact somehow you were included in it made your mind go millions of miles. It didn’t make you hate them, but it made you want to stay as far away from them as possible—

”span class="Kaf-SW">Listen: Calm down. Listen to my voice, let those thoughts quiet down.”

A sweet yet stern voice snapped you out of it as you refocused your eyes. The meeting seemed to have already ended since you only saw Kafka and SW with you. While Kafka was standing next to you, SW had chosen to sit in front of you on the table, looking worried. You took a deep breath as you felt Kafka’s abilities commanding your mind to double down.

“Hey… what got you so out of it all of the sudden?” The silver-haired girl commented as she placed a hand on your shoulder.

… … …

Especially Kafka.

“I’m fine, my head was just… hurting a little.” You said as you stood up, a hand massaging your temple. A warm light manifested on your fingertips, easing the migraine you were feeling. You needed to go somewhere so you could think, away from people and the troubles they could bring you. Your room, you needed to go to your room right now.

Just then, you felt a hand reach for your waist and another covered your eyes as they tilted your head back. You should have resisted, but you let them pull you closer, the back of your head hitting their chest. It wasn’t hard to guess who it was, even if the gesture was more gentle than anything they had ever shown you.

Now that one of your senses was blocked, it somehow made it easier for you to breathe, to recollect yourself, to completely snap out of the train of worries that had devoured your whole consciousness seconds ago.

You took a deep breath as you heard the door of the room being opened and closed, but you couldn’t tell who was still there.

“Blade… you can let go of me now.” You said softly, your lips slightly parted.

You didn’t know before that he was still there when Kafka used her power on you, but somehow his action had made you calmer than his presence could ever achieve.

You felt the hand leave your eyes as you opened them, just to see Blade looking down at you. His eyes weren’t as penetrating today, instead, it was soft, incredibly soft, even if he still had that deadpan expression on his face.

You could lose yourself in them, if it wasn’t for the fact that both of his hands were now on your waist and Kafka had even stepped closer to you. At this point, there were only three of you in the room, and you were caged in between the two people whose presence usually brings a sense of uncertainty to you.

Even so, your head was clear of thoughts, and your usual restless mind stopped worrying and just… relaxed. This was… something you hardly ever felt in your life, even during your childhood.

Had your life ever been as peaceful as this moment happening right here? You wouldn’t know, because you were focused on taking in everything right now.

Deep breaths resulted in the smell of perfume and the fresh fruits you had this morning, even the lingering smell of pizzas from last night.

Keen ears granted you the sound of heartbeats slowly becoming more in sync, as you three stood close to each other.

Tactile skin told you of the soft hold Blade had on your waist, and the warm gloved hand of Kafka caressing your cheeks.

And lastly, your eyes met both of theirs as you felt enticed but trapped. You were trapped in the present, trapped in their unusual care for you, trapped in this odd feeling you were having.

What were the other two feelings?

That was the first time you had ever asked yourself that question. Blade and Kafka were the two types of people you didn’t want to worry about, too much uncertainty, too little comfort to offer, until now.

It felt like an eternity had passed before you closed your eyes and smiled. You didn’t feel like caring about their feelings of the moment you all were sharing, because you were even uncertain of your own right now.

Uncertainty was something you wished to run away from, but in this instant, you somehow learned to welcome it.

Chapter Text

“Oi, Doctor! Help! I need—”

When Silver Wolf looked up from her phone, she came to the realization that she walked in on something she shouldn’t have.

A half-naked Blade wrapped in new bandages and the Doctor who was sitting before him staring at each other? The man was even leaning in closer too. Her genius brain instantly told her that she just interrupted something.

“—I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything!” She said quickly and fled out of the room, leaving the two alone.

Taking a few steps away from the room, curses flew out of her mouth as she looked down at the paper cut on her finger and her habit of never knocking when it came to visiting the Doctor.

She put the finger in her mouth, dreading not being able to have it cured immediately, now she would have to play games with one hand instead of two. Petty reasons she knows, but can anyone blame her?

Then, the door opened and she saw Blade walk out, sending her a glare. She wasn’t fazed by it, even scoffing, he must have got out because she saw what was going in there.

“Don’t go back in, they’re busy.” He said coldly as he turned and started to head in the direction of the training hall.

She wasn’t going to anyway…

Then from then on, Silver Wolf learned to knock before entering your office.

“Dinner?”

“Pizza.”

“Pizza.”

“Pizza it is then.”

After the Doctor went to make them dinner, Firefly quickly joined them afterward, the fragile girl making herself at home on the makeshift bed. She looked healthier, well, healthier than Silver Wolf last seen her, even if it was not much. Must be your doing. Just then, Silver Wolf got a question, or maybe two, that she really, really wanted to ask the two coworkers who were with her.

“Hey…”

Elio opened one of his eyes, an expression of disinterest in what she was about to say. Firefly looked up from their phone, a gesture that told her that she was listening.

“What do you two think of the Doctor and Kafka's relationship?”

The cat shifted onto his back as he stretched lazily, while Firefly took a second to think about it.

“An annoying woman and an annoyed person.” Elio said.

"They have very opposite personalities, but I guess they're on neutral terms." Firefly also provided their opinion.

“Then, what do you think of the Doctor and Blade's relationship?”

"I don't think they're that close."

“... Coworkers. Even though one of them clearly avoids the other most of the time.” Elio said and went back to ignoring her.

Even Firefly looked confused at what Elio said, much less Silver Wolf.

“Wait…”

One of them clearly avoids the other most of the time? Silver Wolf didn’t really get what the man was implicating, but before she could even ask more questions, Kafka waltzed into the room, dragging the Doctor along while Blade stood outside.

She forgot about it once they started eating, but she swore Blade was eyeing Elio for being on the Doctor’s lap, even if he was just getting head scratches and nothing else. At some point, Kafka even kissed their wrist for dragging them earlier, yuck.

Of course, the doctor kept eating and petting Elio, ignoring that woman's flirty attempts.

Her genius brain told her that she didn’t exactly know what had been happening between those three as much as Elio did.

She heard chattering, why were her coworkers so nosy today? But then as she was about to go off to dreamland again, a hissing sound so loud came out of presumably Elio that she decided it was impossible to remain asleep at that point.

“Ugh…Why are all of you—”

She opened her eyes and was about to yell out her frustrations before a gloved hand shushed her. It was clearly Kafka, so she glared up at the woman who had that cheeky smile on her face.

She swore being the last one to wake up was the worst thing when it came to her fellow Stellaron Hunters.

Woah… she never saw the doctor get that agitated. Even so, she could tell that they didn’t like being forced to work with Blade specifically for a set amount of time.

“Then, what do you think, Blade?” Elio asked.

“I’m fine with the arrangement.” That was Blade’s answer.

Silver Wolf glanced at Blade, that deadpan expression was still on his face, but she didn’t expect him actually be fine with it.

Her genius brain told her that she really, really needed to ask Firefly about what was going on.

But when Elio shot the Doctor down and ended the topic right then and there, she began to feel worried for them. The Doctor seemed to have fallen into a trance, their eyes weren’t even focused!

Silver Wolf noted to herself that she needed to comfort them later.

As the meeting went on, SW learned more about whatever plans Elio had for this… Stelle. So Kafka was going to be the one to teach the ‘child’-at least what Elio and the Doctor refer to her as before the name was given.

Honestly, she was glad, because she knew that out of everyone, the only one capable of even taking care of a child was that woman, even if she felt kinda bad for the Doctor. They talked about Stelle like she was their own kin, so having to go on missions so Kafka could take care of the child mustn’t be the most enjoyable thing for her.

The meeting concluded after half an hour, with Firefly leaving right away and Elio saying he needed to get something in the back and disappeared right after.

Silver Wolf stood up and walked over to the doctor, just as Kafka turned and checked their mental state. Poor them.

“Oi, Doc, are you ok?” She asked and sat on the table, waving her hand in front of the doctor. In any other situation, she would be taking pictures of how stupid they looked, but if she did that now, the Doctor may be furious later.

Kafka only hummed before using her Spirit Whisper to wake the Doctor out of the trance they were in.

“Hey… what got you so out of it all of a sudden?” SW asked, but the Doctor only mustered up an excuse as they treated the supposed headache they were feeling.

That was a lie, but before she could even voice her concern, Blade had already encircled the Doctor, covering their eyes and pulling them closer, which left SW in shock. What was with the romantic gesture all of a sudden, especially from someone like him?

She looked at Kafka and she could tell from that woman's expression that she should leave the three of them be. She jumped off the table and quietly left.

Walking out of Elio’s office, she saw Firefly standing by the door as if waiting for her. Once they saw her, they nodded and started walking down the corridor, as she was left confused and honestly, curious about the whole ordeal.

The Doctor had been strange these days, for the past two weeks, they had been… distracted? Even when she was accompanying them to collect things that the HQ was running low on, they almost went the wrong way several times.

They also kept checking their phones too, like they were waiting for something.

Now, they were in their lab, staring at the artificial body inside of a glass chamber, or Stelle. Usually, they would have noticed if anyone entered, but they didn’t seem to notice that Silver Wolf had been standing by their side for a good 5 minutes.

Even the usual chemical smell in the room had faded, she could tell the Doctor hadn’t been experimenting for a while.

“Doc?”

...

“Doctor, hello?”

“Ah... Wolfie, sorry I kinda— do you need anything?” The Doctor finally turned to look at her.

Her words seemed to have snapped them out of a trance, strange, even in the 6 months she had come to know the Doctor, she never saw them this… detached?

“No, you’re just odd these days.”

“Odd?” They chuckled before patting Silver Wolf's head again.

“Yes, you have been like this ever since the meeting.”

Their smile faltered a little before a sigh came out of their mouth.

“I’ve just… been thinking.”

Vague, just like how their answers had always been.

“And?”

“...”

They looked away, a little hesitant, and Silver Wolf pouted in annoyance. What with the secrecy anyway…

“Fine, if you won’t tell me, at least promise me that you will help me with making desserts later.”

“Sure, sure, anything for our dear Silver Wolf.”

And she received another pat on the head, but the Doctor seemed more lively so she endured it.

That evening, a bunch of desserts were made, mostly by the Doctor (Sam joined when they heard about it, but mostly just read the instructions out loud), and the fridge was restocked with sweet goodies for a least another month.

“You need sleep if you want to grow taller.”

“Oh please, just go to sleep, you did most of the work after all.”

A laugh was heard, and just a few minutes later, she was sure the Doctor had drifted off to sleep. Silver Wolf sighed and stood up, exiting the room.

Now that she was outside, she went to the phone app to make a call. It rang for a good minute then the other side finally picked up.

“They’re asleep. Your suggestion worked.”

“Oh? That’s good to hear then, now Bladie can rest well.”

She heard a groan from the other side of the phone, probably from Blade.

At first, she didn’t want to resort to Kafka to help the Doc, knowing that she may use this on her later. But after many failed attempts, that woman was the only one she could go to.

“Our doctor is quite a simple and affectionate person, they wouldn't refuse things if they are from you, so maybe ask them to accompany you on a trip to the arcade or shopping mall? You know, keeping them busy.”

She noted the ideas down, why didn’t she think of this earlier, maybe being a genius didn’t help with her inability to comfort people.

“Yeah yeah, I got it. How is it on your end?” She asked, trying to change the subject.

“Worrying about us? That’s nice of you.” She could hear snickering from their end. How annoying.

“Ugh… why do I feel like the reason why they’re like this was because of you two?”

The other side suddenly became quiet, she was expecting Kafka to joke or just outright comment on the Doctor’s state. But no, just silent.

“Well, we’re quite busy, see you later.”

“Hey! Don’t you dare hang up on me—”

Beep beep.

“That cheeky woman…”

The phone call ended before she could even finish the sentence. Looking at the phone's summary, Silver Wolf cursed out before sighing and went back inside, turning off her phone for the night. The sound of the Doctor shifting in their sleep was heard as she changed into her PJ and got on the bed, making sure not to wake them up.

She should really get some sleep…

Chapter Text

Beep

The ‘end call’ button was pressed, not before countless questions were yelled out from the other end. The woman sighed as she looked at her phone, although she found this whole situation somewhat amusing.

Even so, she could tell the man who was sitting on the bed redoing his bandages didn't quite hold the same opinion as her. He looked bothered by the comment the person on the other side of the phone made earlier.

“Worried?” She asked as she put a hand on his cheek, admiring the man’s face.

They were in an inn, resting for the day. It had been 2 weeks since they had been on this mission, or the fourth one. Elio did not want to send the doctor on long and hard ones, they were dispatched to complete most of the more labor-intensive ones.

He seemed to contemplate for a minute, leaning into her touch as he put his hand over her own. but his whole expressionless outer shell didn't falter one bit.

“It’s hard not to.” He admitted in a low voice, closing his eyes to enjoy their intimate moment.

She smiled and nodded, agreeing with him. After the moment they shared with the Doctor, after being that close to breaking that cold wall they put up to keep everyone just far enough away, it was incredibly hard to not think of their dear doctor.

How joyful it will be when the day comes when you finally fall into their arms.

Even Elio gave his thump up to them chasing the Docter, saying it would help the doctor with their past. She did not pry any further, because even as his right hand, he only told her what he wanted her to know, but she was pleased that the doctor's turmoil could be dealt with by her own selfish attraction.

Oh how she missed them already. Their mission should be done by the day after tomorrow, and they could go back to trying to chase their little treasure. But right now, all she wanted was to forget about the Doctor and relax, but Blade didn’t seem to hold the same sentiment as her.

“Don’t worry too much, A-Ren, so… why won’t we just enjoy each other for now? Our little treasure won’t just disappear into thin air.”

She raised Blade’s face and gave him a teasing kiss, even when he groaned at the act.

“They looked like they wanted to run away as far as possible.”

The woman chuckled before letting go of the man’s face and sitting on the bed next to him. The Doctor had a history of dodging every single attempt of her 'displaying' her affection towards them, so she wasn't really fazed by it.

“I’m afraid I don’t share the same predicament.”

“...”

Blade sighed at her words. For a woman who was not capable of feeling fear, it was ironic that she used the phrase ‘I’m afraid.’

“Oh come on Bladie, it has been a while since we’ve been alone together~”

“Tsk…”

She watched as the man's whole icy cold exterior melted away as he finally let his guard down. A contented smile formed on her face as they slumped onto each other on the bed.

Sunglasses check.

Coat check.

Hat check.

You looked at yourself in the mirror as you were, in your own view, well-disguised, with a simple shirt and black pants. Being a Stellaron Hunter means having people who wanted to take your head, and you weren’t going to risk that today.

As you put a light jacket on and checked yourself out one last time, you finally noticed Silver Wolf wasn’t changing.

“Go change, we’re not going when you are dressed like that.”

“Oh come onnnn, can’t I just wear this?” Silver Wolf protested when you told her to change out of her usual clothes.

“Elio said that we may get recognized by some off-duty IPC guards, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“You’re barely out of the HQ most of the time and I just joined recently! Who the heck would even recognize us?” Silver Wolf flared her arms dramatically before dropping down on her bed.

It was true that the IPC barely had any picture of you, even your bounty was resting at only 900 million compared to your other coworkers, not to mention Silver Wolf was the newest addition to the Stellaron Hunters. But she was famous on her planet even before she joined, and unfortunately, the fight she had with Screwllum not only caught Elio’s attention but also the IPC’s, which means she was easy to recognize. You sat down on her bed, ready with refutals you knew she wouldn't dare argue against.

“First of all, Silver Wolf, you’re the one with a few billion credits for your head, even when you joined after me. And secondly, your whole fit screams ‘I’m from Punklord and probably can aether edit and break the law.’. Finally, when has Elio ever been wrong?”

“Hey!... My outfit does not scream that!” She sat up, quick to defend herself.

“It does, so go change, Missy.”

When Silver Wolf realized you would not budge, she pouted and walked back into her closet to choose another set of clothes. Unfortunately for her, even if you trust yourselves, you do not trust the IPC.

You scrolled through your phone while waiting for Wolfie to change. It was still early on the planet you were planning to visit, so you weren't in much of a hurry anyway. Silver Wolf had asked you to go shopping with her earlier this morning, and since you weren’t busy, you agreed.

You were planning on buying something for Stelle later, given she would be out soon, so this was a great opportunity. Even so, it had been half a year since you last left the HQ, so you were undoubtedly excited to interact with anyone who wasn't your coworker.

But as you scrolled, your mind suddenly started to wonder what Kafka was up to. She was to be in charge of taking care of Stelle after you had finished your part. So in your care for your own creation, you pondered if she would need anything ahead for the plan.

Nothing really came to mind. You decided to text Kafka about it, the place where the mission she was on was a few hours ahead of the standard time, so she should be up and about by now.

Opening the contact named ‘Kaf’, you glared at the nickname she had set for you before sending her a message on the private network the Hunters had.

You stared at your phone for a good second. Given you never texted her first, you didn’t know when she would typically respond, but you figured she wouldn’t see it right away.

As you exited the messaging app, you saw Silver Wolf walk out of her closet, decked out in more simple clothes than normal.

That young girl's usual style was flashy, just like the nightlife of Punklord-where she’s from- so the sight of her dressing in a black hoodie with shorts and a pair of headphones was quite a surprise for you.

“Hey… Stop looking at me like that! Do I look weird or something?”

“No no, you just look… hum… like…” You paused to think of the right words, but seemed like Silver Wolf took it the wrong way.

“Like? Like what? Please tell me I don’t look like Blade trying to hide his identity! Have you seen him do that? He looked awful!”

"I have..."

You chuckled as she rambled on and on about how Blade looked extra ridiculous when he was monitoring her on her first-ever mission. Honestly speaking, you thought he looked like an idol trying to be secretive about who he was.

“No no… the style just looks fresh on you, that’s all.” You finally thought of a word to say and Silver Wolf's rants died down.

“Now that’s the right word, let’s head off then. There’s this one place that has…”

Silver Wolf was already walking towards the door as you stood up and followed her. The breakfast place she was describing sounded like a child’s dream, but, you knew well as a doctor that a little sugar in the morning wouldn’t hurt.

“Tsk… Seems like trouble has arrived.”

“CAPTURE THEM! WE CAN TORTURE THEM ALL WE WANT AFTER!”

The supposed leader of the group heading towards their direction shouted out as the soldiers’ eyes gleamed with murderous intention.

“What did the script say again? Oh right, the citizen of this world was consumed by their desires to torture and see the pain of others.”

The woman said as she pulled the pins out of five grenades, throwing them at the group as she and Blade looked down at them from a higher platform.

One particular ruler of a nation in this world was known to be cruel and violent, ordering their people to commit atrocious crimes and capture people from neighboring countries so they could torture them for fun.

Due to that, the citizen of that nation slowly became more accustomed to the violence, terrorizing the land with cries of others being their main source of happiness and fulfillment in life.

But funnily enough, those people who were now in charge of this world were those who suffered badly from that tyrannical ruler, because after going through torturous nightmares, they craved to treat those who had wronged them even more pain than they had felt.

In response to the screams of agonized thousands, a Stellaron awoke to their desires, helping them free themself but also corrupting their minds to the point every creature on that planet knew nothing but violence.

In their own words: ‘It will be an honor to die in the hand of true warriors like we!'

“Pesky bugs.” Blade muttered under his breath as more of Kafka’s grenades blew up a big portion of those coming for them.

Blood, guts, and weapons shattered everywhere, but their minds were so clouded by the Stellaron that they didn’t even care even when the bodies of ‘their comrades’ flopped dead next to them.

The script didn’t say ‘not’ to kill anyone( or did mass murders), so Kafka took it upon herself to take out as many of these… manics as she pleased.

“Bugs indeed, so when you go on missions with our little treasure, make sure they don’t see sights like this.”

“Hum.”

Kafka looked over at Blade as he watched the group step on their fallen soldiers in their advancement toward the two Stellaron Hunters. Some were even laughing as they stomped on the faces of those who lay dead on the ground, others actively mocking the pair as the loud sound of them drew closer. That how far gone the Stellaron had corrupted them, befitting the nickname of ‘Cancer of all Worlds.’

Putting those thoughts aside, she checked the script for this particular mission and noticed that there was a message sent to her.

“Would you look at that… our doctor sent me a message~” She smiled, holding out her phone for her partner to see.

Hearing her words, Blade turned his head to look at the screen as she threw another grenade at them with her free hand.

“Aren’t they so cute?” Kafka said as Blade frowned a little at her comment, but she knew he agreed with her.

She thought of an answer as she looked at the message, she wasn’t in any ‘hurry’, even when Blade had drawn his cracked sword and jumped down from the elated platform.

And heart emoji or nah... Hum, let's not for today—

“HEY GET THAT WOMAN—” A loud shout was heard before the person was shot in the head.

…Sent. Kafka smiled at the text, one of her hands shooting the horde of soldiers as they tried to get to the platform.

“I’m trying to flirt here, can’t you all wait for a little?” She muttered as she put her phone away. Suddenly, a large symbol of a spider appeared on the ground beneath the maniacs. Blade instantly jumped back on the platform as Kafka activated her abilities on a wide scale.

"Listen: Kill those around you."

It wouldn’t be as effective as usual, but for those whose minds were already corrupted by the Stellarons, they all started to kill each other instead of pursuing Kafka and Blade. Such sights were quite unpleasant, but they didn't have time to care about the lives of others.

“Let’s go Bladie, I want to see our little treasure by tomorrow.”

At that, they turned and started to head to the Stellaron location as the sound of weapons clacking and mass murder behind them rang on. A crowd of more than a few thousand slaughtering their own kind in their madness and desires for violence and blood was not a pretty sight, unless in the eyes of those who worship the Aeon of Destruction.

Just like in their own words: ‘It will be an honor to die in the hand of true warriors like we!”, They were able to die an ‘honorable’ death.

“Ugh…” You made a face when you read Kafka's answer.

“Mpm– whut did swe swend yu?” Silver Wolf asked with a mouth full of food.

Eating at the place Silver Wolf had recommended, you finish the last piece of fluffy pancake from your plate as you think of a way to answer your coworker.

“'A cute coat, books on the common language, and a kiss'. Also, don’t talk with a mouth full of food.” You quoted Kafka as Silver Wolf swallowed the food she had in her mouth and downed half of the sugary drink that you clearly told her not to order.

“Mhm… That’s classic Kafka for you.”

“Classic…” You muttered as you texted her back.

-Kaf-

Cute little doctor: Kafka, I’m going to the mall with Silver Wolf, if you want to buy anything you think you will need to take care of Stelle later, text me.

Kaf: A cute coat, books on the common language,... and a kiss.”

Kaf: Also Blade said hi.

Cute little doctor: I will, except for the last one. And Blade absolutely didn’t say that.

You sent the message, but in the corner of your eyes, you saw Silver Wolf slowly reach for your drink and put the straw in her mouth.

Slurps

…

“Silver Wolf, for Aeons' sake, just ask if you want things.”

“Sorry, habits. Can I have a sip of yours then?”

“Yes. Drink all of it if you'd like.”

Silver Wolf continued to drink from yours as you sighed in your head. You think you were spoiling her rotten, and probably Stelle too when she was finally ready.

“So…Where to head first?”

“Your choice, Doc.”

“Clothes it is then.”

Chapter Text

“Do you have that but in this size and color?”

“Yes Ma’am, I’ll go get them for you right away.”

…

“Why are all of you so USELESS? I asked for—”

The noise of busy shoppers rang all over the store as they demanded the help of the employees. You handed the cashier the basket full of clothes as the lady in front of you was done with her purchase.

“Have you checked the condition and size of all the clothes you are going to purchase?” The cashier asked, scanning the clothes in the basket.

“Yes.”

To your answer, the worker quickly picked up their pace and in a matter of minutes, she was already done.

“25 thousand credits please, card or cash?”

“Card.”

You handed the card to the store clerk, using one of the fake accounts the Stellaron Hunters had for use on operations. It was still your account, so you were paying for it out of your own pocket, but you figured you hadn’t bought anything in a while, it wouldn’t hurt.

As you typed in the password, the clothes were quickly put into shopping bags, they sure wanted you out of there as quickly as possible, given the line behind you. After the purchase was finalized, the employee handed you the bags as Silver Wolf already went out of the door.

“Here is your bag and have a nice day.”

You sent them a friendly smile as you walked out, and once you were out of a quietly chaotic store to the not-so-quiet chaotic street of the shopping mall, Silver Wolf offered you a piece of gum, already chewing one as you popped the thing in your mouth.

Poor Silver Wolf. In the hour that took you to finish choosing what to buy, Silver Wolf's yawns slowly intensified to the point she yawned twice per minute. It wasn’t the most enjoyable for her, given how bored she looked, at one point, the manager of the store even scolded her for chewing gum.

You were just glad she didn’t teleport him out of there instantly.

“Wolfie, you didn’t even buy anything.”

“It’s because it’s clothes, I’m not interested in fashion.”

“At least pick something out for Stelle.”

Your complaints seemed to go in one ear and fall out the other for SW, given she muttered an unapologetic sorry as she blew a bubble. You couldn’t really blame her, given it took you an hour to buy 5 different pieces of clothing.

The crowd around you had thickened ( as expected from a shopping mall owned by the IPC) and security had tightened more to keep crimes from happening. Even so, there was nothing to worry about, the more people there were, the less noticeable the two of you became.

Speaking of which, you had nothing else to buy, and Silver Wolf did mention she took you here so you could relax, not to buy things for her own, you sure it was high time to leave. But as you opened your mouth to voice your suggestion, that girl had already grabbed your hand and used her body weight to drag you somehow.

Turning your head to the direction she was going, you saw a big arcade that covered half of the floor you two were on. There seemed to be an event going on, given how extra decorative the place felt.

“Oh my god… they have merch of that game?!” the girl said enthusiastically as she had already led you to where the lockers were and proceeded to stuff your shopping bags in one of them.

“Silver Wolf…” you protested. Gaming was never your strong suit, even if it was, you weren’t keen on spending money on arcade games.

But Silver Wolf begged to differ.

“I’ll win something for Stelle too! Pleaseeeeeee, I swear I won’t take up much time.”

“Who’s paying?”

“Me of course! Don’t worry, we won’t be wasting a single credit with my skills.”

You looked down at the eccentric young girl and reluctantly nodded. Silver Wolf smiled mischievously and quickly dragged you across the place, first getting some coins with her money. This was why you shouldn’t go anywhere alone with Silver Wolf, you succumbed to her childish want too easily.

But that thought stopped when your hands were now holding tens of thousands of game tickets as Silver Wolf won another jackpot. You two had switched games more than 20 times by now, but it seemed like nothing could stop Silver Wolf desire to dominate the whole arcade.

Ticket flew out of the machine as they stacked into her outstretched hand. You had been keeping track, and she had won at least 15 thousand tickets by now.

“See? I told you it won’t take up much time! Let’s go to the ticket counter!”

As quickly as she won the tickets, she took them out of your hands and headed over to the counter to get them counted by a machine. You looked at the prizes available, and with the amount she won, she should be able to buy most of them.

While for Silver Wolf to come back, you checked your phone, noticing it had been… 30 minutes? It was impressive, but it sure was drawing quite attention to her. Winning 15 thousand tickets in 30 minutes wasn’t comprehensible by most.

“Hey… look at that girl, she has like… thousands of tickets!”

“Did she cheat? Did anyone watch her play? She totally cheated!”

The sound of teenagers whispering was heard even if you didn’t lift your head off your phone. As much as you didn’t want to deal with them, you had pride in your coworkers, which led to you glaring at them, and they gave you side eyes in return as if challenging you to do something. Never mind Silver Wolf, you drew attention to yourself without even trying.

“Hey, old asshole, got a problem with us?”

One of them yelled loudly in your direction as the group laughed, filling the whole arcade with laughter. ‘Old’ they said, you chuckled to yourself as you wondered whether you should advise them to visit the eye doctor.

You decided otherwise, you didn’t need to sweep down to their level. So instead, you chose to smile and shake your head, dealing with teenagers wasn’t in your job description, and you had Silver Wolf to worry about. But they seemed to assume the opposite.

“ToO scAReD tO reSpONd?”

“Oh I am, so please excuse me, group of young teenagers.”

At your words, they made a disgusted expression as if you were the weirdest person they had ever met. But before they could muster up a cheeky comment, Silver Wolf had already run to your side with a bunch of toys and merch.

You smiled and patted the girl on the head to which she scoffed, which made the group of teenagers laugh out loud. Was it really that funny to them?

“WhAt wAs ThAT, HAHAHA—” They laughed like they just saw someone slipped on a banana, even if a whole lot of people were now looking at their group.

You were about to leave them alone before Silver Wolf grabbed your wrist before you could turn around, a digital screen already present in front of her.

“Hey, want me to deal with them?” She turned to you and asked. You contemplated the offer before shaking your head.

“You’ve already drawn enough attention to yourself, so maybe when we’re out of here.”

Silver Wolf nodded, weird occurrence you noted, but it was quite relaxing that she valued your judgment before committing a crime. At that, you two left those youngsters alone as you grabbed your things from the lockers.

Behind you, the laughter died down as you guessed they were approaching you and Silver Wolf, but then, your dear coworker tapped on the screen and suddenly the group disappeared into thin air. You stared at the space where the group was before, luckily no one actually saw it.

“... Didn’t I say to do that when we’re outside? You’re being too reckless.” You said as you two walked out of the arcade.

“Don’t worry too much, I made sure to teleport them somewhere safe and even alter the camera footage, so even if anyone saw that, there would be no proof against us.” She said. She then eyed the bags she was carrying filled with toys with a happy expression.

You paused to think of her words, not knowing whether or not to be proud of her or concerned for the teenagers.

“Nevermind then.”

As you two decided that the shopping trip was enough and that you should head back to the HQ, you made your way to the exit of the mall. The crowd walking around the both of you seemed to thicken as the entrance was slowly coming into sight.

Chatterings

Your brain had been blocking out most of the noise the entire time you were here, but you suddenly noticed something… oddly strange… why was something giving you the sense of deja vu? The feeling of uneasiness quickly rose in your chest as you stopped in your tracks and started to look around, trying to piece together what was causing this.

“Doctor?”

The sound of the crowd slowly filled your head, your thoughts becoming more blank than before. Your breathing started to accelerate, something was triggering a sensory overload. You tried to rule out all the possibilities. It wasn’t the crowd, you had been in this mall for more than 3 hours now and nothing had happened.

”Doc? You fine there?”

Or anything you were wearing was making you feel uncomfortable, and there was no weird taste in your mouth. But you were hyperaware of everything around you, what were the causes… Was it someone?

“Oi! Aren’t those—”

“Shit… Doc, we need to get out of here now—”

You swore someone shouted something, but your vision was getting blurry as you felt a sensation you had felt before.

Then your mind went blank.

“The Vidyadhara are a humanoid race with draconic features who are descendants of Long, the deceased Aeon of Permanence. They are primarily found within the Xianzhou Alliance.”

An elegant woman stood in front of the class as she answered a question from a student sitting in the back of the class. They were in an honor class, and their school had invited a guest to come and give a lecture.

The mysterious figure was well-received, and their classmates were now asking the guest questions since the lecture was done.

“So you're from that famous Xianzhou Alliance?” One of her classmates raised their hand and asked. The guest smiled gently, happy that someone had asked that question.

“Yes. I’m from the Xianzhou Yuque, one of the ships in the Hexafleet. I’m a diviner. 'Examine omens, question fate, and deliberate the future.'. I am in charge of predicting the future and aiding the Alliance." ”

Everyone was gasping in awe, looking at the woman with sparkling eyes filled with admiration. Then more hands were raised as more questions were answered, it was like the guest had foreseen most of the things that were going to be asked, given nothing had even managed to falter her confidence.

“Alright settled down children, the guest will be staying for a while so you will get to see them more often.” The principal said after a good 30 minutes of the diviner having questions thrown at them.

“It’s fine, principal, the questions don’t bother me that much.”

“Oh, you mustn’t…”

“Really, it’s fine, but it’s time for me to go. I send you all my best regards, everyone.” The woman said as she waved and exited the classroom, the child saw the excitement in their classmates’ eyes die down.

At that, the special lecture by the honorable guest ended, and so had the school week. The child quietly packed their bag as their young classmates chattered away about what their parents were planning on taking them to for the weekend or what new toys they had.

They themself never joined those conversations, since their parents were working far far away somewhere and weren’t home most of the time. So they were taken care of by their grandpa, alongside a white cat named r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡c̷̶҉̵̢͚̣̻̲̬͑̑͛͐̀͜͜͜͝͡͝͠t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠. It was soon to be their r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡c̷̶҉̵̢͚̣̻̲̬͑̑͛͐̀͜͜͜͝͡͝͠t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠ birthday, so they were eager to go home.

But when they were about to exit the classroom, their teacher pulled them aside, saying that the guest wanted to talk to them specifically. They obediently followed behind the teacher as they were led to a room. Just like that, they were now standing in front of the guest, who was way taller than them.

They looked up at the guest, having had a closer look at her. They noticed her pointy ears, but she didn’t really have any dragon-like features. That made the young child question the guest's earlier statement about the Vidyadhara.

“Pointed ears are distinct features of the Vidyadhara, young one. As for dragonic features, I’m afraid only certain members can even develop those features, and I’m not one of them.”

The woman answered before they could even ask the question. They looked up at her in awe, to which the woman smiled. She leaned down and patted the child on the head, a loving gesture that the child appreciated.

“So Miss did divine what questions you gonna get.” The child asked, looking at her curiously.

The woman seemed satisfied with their question, but they didn’t really know why, they just saw the smile on her face curled up more than before. She then raised back on her feet and signaled the child to sit on the chair in front of her.

It was a little high, so they put their bag down on the floor before somehow managing to climb up on it in the end. They sat on it quietly as the woman stood in front of them. She was gentle, but it felt like her gaze was observing them, judging and evaluating them.

“Miss want to speak to me?” The child asked.

“Yes, young one.”

…

Static noises

…

Female Voice: Welcome to the Interastral Peace Broadcast. Good evening everyone.

Male Voice: Good evening.

Female Voice: We have received news today that two Stellaron Hunters were spotted in the mall of Zaraia that was on Aurionth.

Male Voice: It was reported that around 11 am locally, an off-duty officer saw the genius hacker Silver Wolf and a person we later identified from the officer testimony as the Doctor, who was walking towards the exit of the mall. Our grasp on the Doctor's appearance and ability is still vague, but please still be careful.

Female Voice: As we had advised on our previous programs, the IPC was immediately contacted, but as security was alerted, they promptly escaped.

Male Voice: The IPC has quickly sent personnel to investigate, but the trail had run cold.

Female Voice: And as testimonies were collected, a group of teenagers had claimed to have been bullied and teleported away by one of the Stellaron Hunters, but there was no evidence that could indicate whether their statement was true or false.

Male Voice: If you happen to see them in action, please report back to the IPC. Moreover, no casualty was reported, but the security cameras of the mall did not manage to capture them on any occasion that day, which led us to believe that all the footage had been tampered with before the IPC could access them.

Female Voice: Now, the camera footage from all the shops is currently being reviewed, but it is estimated to be done by the day after tomorrow.

Male Voice: The investigation on the matter is still ongoing, but we will update you on any progress made in future broadcasts.

Female Voice: Meanwhile…We have—

Beep

“The Doctor of the Stellaron Hunters… why is their face so familiar?”

“You did go to that mall today, right? Maybe you saw them there? Either way, the pictures of the Stellaron Hunters are plastered everywhere these days.”

“I see, and I swear I may have seen them in one of my reincarnations before…”

“You worry too much, Tianming”

Chapter Text

Whispers.

“H͇͇̹͊ͪ́̕ͅụ̴̴̾̀͟͡m̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ, d̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ't͖͖̠̬͛ y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡ w̡̻̻̣͚̒̀ͅa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥt͖͖̠̬͛ t͖͖̠̬͛o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞…”

Whispers rang in the woman's ear as she eyed the glowing yellow orb in front of her. It was glowing, brighter than any of the lit torches around the altar it resided on. Its words were filled with temptation, suggesting violence to be inflicted on the weak.

“i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥf̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂t͖͖̠̬͛ v̹̹̘̼̞̻͆ͩ̓ͪ͢i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧn̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥc̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥt͖͖̠̬͛o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅ?”

Citizens of this nation felt for its words 2 Amber Eras ago, massacring their own kind, filtering out the strongest ones to the weaker. Blood was shed as the world fell into the hands of Destruction. Even so, they all looked up to the Stellaron like a god, even dedicating an intricate temple around it.

“Your offer does sound enticing... It just so happened that I have other plans to do.” she said unamusingly. The Stellaron reacted violently, seeing that its effects didn’t reach her at all.

It may have successfully clouded the mind of those inhabiting this planet, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the first Stellaron who tried to cloud the mind of the Stellaron Hunter.

Stepping closer to its altar, her hand stretched out as the untamed orb shone violently, almost trying to blind her. Her eyes twitched as she put on the circular sunglasses that were always neatly placed on the crown of her head.

After all, the doctor would scold her for not taking precautions against such malicious beings.

Seeing that it couldn’t blind her, its whisper turned into bloody screams of agony. The dried blood and body of Fragmentum Monsters around the altar were a clear indication of whose those screams belonged to.

“Now now, be obedient, won’t you?” She said as the temperature jumped immensely. It felt like lava was suddenly poured into the enclosed space, a common fighting mechanism that all 'Cancer of all World' had, but she had Relics that were tailored to this exact reason. But it was just as bothersome as the ones before had been.

As her gloved fingers wrapped around the burning sphere, sealing its destructive power away. Its effect slowly diminished until only a dimly bright orb resided in the palm of her hand. It now looked more like a Curio used for lighting that those Armed Archaeologists of the Intelligentsia Guild had during ruin exploration than a cancerous thing that had brought about the destruction of many worlds and galaxies.

“Lord Ravanges of Nanook sure have their plans.” She commented as she turned away from the alter, returning to the entrance at once.

Elio said that Celenova-one of the Seven Overloads of Destruction under Nanook- was the one to plant the Stellaron that was currently in her hand. Something about them wanting to turn the citizens of this world into Voidrangers, and this was a process of eliminating the weak to highlight who was the strongest. But apparently, this place hadn’t been checked upon for at least an Amber Era, given the state of the world was in by now.

Abandoned.

The Stellaron Hunter checked the script again as she arrived at the entrance of the temple, reuniting with her companion, who was unsurprisingly covered in blood. The citizen had become more unrest due to the Stellaron reaching out for their help, calling them to come and help their so-called 'God' from the fall of grace.

But the whispers should have all disappeared by now, but instead of common sense and apathy returning to the denizen of this world, a blood bath occurred. Somehow when freed from whatever temptation the Stellaron was feeding them, they had fallen even deeper as they destroyed their own people. The Hunters were now completely ignored as they seemed to all turn insane.

Maybe it was because of long exposures. Maybe they were simply too far gone to even be saved, but that wasn't really a concern for the Stellaron Hunters.

“What a sight this is, isn’t it, Bladie?” The woman asked, the man withdrew his sword once he saw she had the Stellaron in her hand.

She expected him to either nod his head or shake it to reply, but instead, he pulled out his phone and showed it to her. On it was a ‘friend’ of Silver Wolf, downloading some messages. The Stellaron was disrupting any signal from outside of the planet, but this was unusual for the hacker to go out of her way to contact them like this.

…

Male Voice: The investigation on the matter is still ongoing, but we will update you on any progress made in future broadcasts.

Female Voice: Meanwhile…We have—

…

The woman's expression remained unchanging even after listening to the audio, or when reading Elio’s message to come back immediately. But she could tell that the man beside her wasn’t doing as well, his Mara flaring up from the combination of the scream of violence before them and his own worries.

“... Listen, Bladie: We’re going back now and everything is fine.” She whispered, focusing her Spirit Whisper on him.

The veils of Mara surging around him quickly disbursed into thin air as he nodded. They quickly head back, ignoring the shouts of the citizen of this world as they face their own destruction.

‘It will be an honor to die in the hand of true warriors like we!”

“The script said that you would get noticed! Why didn’t you two leave when you were done shopping?”

“Ugh, we did! I swear we were bare 5 feet from the entrance of the mall!”

Your eyes were closed, your mind a little hazy as you slowly became more aware of your surroundings. You were on a bed, presumably yours from the familiarity it had on your skin. The air was not too hot or cold, and your soft blanket was on your body.

Do you remember how you got back? No, not really, but you could tell that there was a lot of ‘silent’ yelling around you, even if you hardly could make out what they were even saying.

There were two voices you could hear, whispers of annoyance and refutable, even though you swore you felt a third presence to the right. But that wasn’t your main concern, since the other two were pretty loud even if they were trying to argue in small volumes. Tired as you were, you couldn’t listen to their best effort of arguing as silently as possible any longer than you already had.

“Can you all please just…” You muttered out of annoyance but the argument quickly stopped as you felt dimples on both sides of the place you were lying on.

Eyes reopening, you made out the silhouette of Silver Wolf sitting on your bed, with Sam standing to the side of it. You squinted your eyes, forcing them to focus on your surroundings. It was a clear indication that you were in your room, but your memory was too blurry to recall how you got back to the HQ.

Unconsciously, you held a hand upwards to check whether you had been injured or not. As you looked at the back of your hand and counted all the fingers on it, you confirmed that you were fine and there wasn’t any bruise or cut anywhere.

You heard Sam sigh before the back of their hand landed on your forehead. Despite feeling the cold metal hit your skin, it somehow made you notice the headache you were feeling, probably from sleeping for too long.

“Temperatures are normal.” Sam said as they retracted their hand.

How kind those gestures were, though you weren’t in the mood to appreciate them. “Second cabinet, the orange one that is labeled ‘Advil’.” You said with a hoarse voice as you pointed to one of the medicine cabinets you had in your room. You needed to instantly relieve your headache, and you could feel your power subconsciously relieving it, but you were in no state to actively heal it.

What could even happen to cause you to have this headache this huge?

Silver Wolf turned and was going to go get it, but Blade was already heading there before she even could leave the bed. What was he doing… You were going to question it, but your throat was dry and Sam was already helping you up with a cup of water in their hand.

Sitting up, you instantly accepted the cup from Sam’s hand and drank it, feeling the liquid rehydrating your throat. By then, Blade was already back with the bottle of pills in his hand and handed it to you.

Small orange container with a white cap and a label that spelled “Advill”, that checked out. He had already opened it for you. You got two and down both with the remaining water in the cup.

It took effect rather immediately, but it barely helped. You were going to need to use your healing power because in no way you could even think straight at the moment.

Summoning your power into your fingertips, you massaged your temple, but due to the state you were in, the relief was slow to kick in. But it was just enough so you could hold a proper conversation, without feeling like dying from thinking about what to say. Once your mind had time to recollect itself, concern ran through your head.

“Are the shopping bags safe?” You asked once you felt a little better than before, and Silver Wolf gave you the most dumbfounded expression you had ever seen on someone.

“Why is that your first question— Nevermind, what happened? You suddenly stood still and your eyes were looking around like crazy!” The silver hair girl asked.

“...”

You think about the question before frowning. Wait… what did happen? You don’t really remember and no one in the room was the holder of the answer.

You recalled the things you were feeling that day, at the exact moment. You were hypersensitive to everything around you, every fiber of your skin begging you to get out of that place. The ability to think cohesively had left your body at that point, but you knew you somehow got into a state of sensory overload since you experienced it before.

Even so, looking back, you couldn’t really tell what had caused it in the first place.

"I’m not sure, I got sensory overload or something.” You said as you fidgeted with the cup that was in your hand.

“Any reason why?” You shook your head when Silver Wolf asked that question. You didn’t know, it was unlike you to not know, and you resented the fact you couldn’t answer them too. Especially how uncertain you felt about the situation.

Uncertainty

The two nodded in understanding, but you didn't feel that much better. You should have known and should have left early despite Silver Wolf's little protest about going to the arcade. It wasn't your fault, something unknown triggered you that you didn't even have time to collect yourself before you lost consciousness. But blaming yourself wasn't doing you any favor, since you were still unsure of the event that unfolded.

In your trance of thoughts, you suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened. Looking toward its direction, you saw Kafka pushing a cart of food into your room.

“... Ah… our Doctor’s awake… And here I thought I would be the first one you see when you wake up.” Kafka said and you heard Silver Wolf scoffed.

The smell of food brought you back to reality as your mind started to race with thoughts other than uncertainty. You had questions, a lot of questions, but a hand landed on your face before you could even voice them. When you looked up, you were met with Kafka’s gentle eyes examining your state. Her gloved fingers were gentle, yet firm, so familiar even after 2 weeks had passed.

“Any question you have can be answered later, doctor, now eat, you skipped 3 meals already.” She said as she picked up a bowl of porridge.

“Wait how long…” You asked anyway as she took a scoop of it and raised it to your mouth.

“Doctor, listen: Eat first.”

Hearing her command, you dropped the topic instantly and just accepted the spoonful of porridge she was holding in front of you. Kafka’s Spirit Whisper was extremely powerful, so you didn’t really have a choice.

Then, the taste of chicken porridge brought you back to your senses. It was a little more on the saltier side, not too thick or watery, hot enough to warm your inside but not too hot that it would burn your tongue, just like how you like it.

You wondered how the heck did she know… Maybe Silver Wolf told her, given you had made it for her one time she somehow got sick, or Kafka was just being perceptive like she always had been.

Speaking of Silver Wolf, you darted your eyes toward her direction to assess her physical state. She seemed fine, not injured or anything, so you figured you can withhold any question you had until after the meal.

You recuperated for the rest of the day, and between Kafka’s flirty caring gestures and everyone making sure you were comfortable and safe, you felt better quickly.

The headaches certainly were gone, and you surely enjoyed being pampered by all of your coworkers, even though they came to you most of the time. It felt like your room had become a lounge, given all of them were hanging around.

The shopping bags were fine, pretty intact, even if Kafka kept eyeing them. You did promise her a new coat, and as much as you were proud of the one you had bought, that was tomorrow's business.

Because right now, you still hadn’t had an answer to what the heck happened.

Herta’s Space Station…

Member #83 of the Genius Society, Herta…

A ‘museum’ in space…

You read through the document that Silver Wolf had sent you. The day after you had woken up, Elio held a meeting about your condition, and after deeming that you were fine and there was nothing to worry about, it turned into what he had planned for Stelle.

“A sealed Stellaron in a Space Station?...” You mumbled as you noted down on a piece of paper anything you found interesting.

She would be implanted with the Stellaron when she was ready and had her memories wiped by Kafka.

“Asta, Arlan…hum.” you had scrolled to the list of researchers on the Space Station, noting that there were a few names you had seen before.

Clicking off the page, you sat back in your chair and sighed. The days when you were a simple researcher for the Intelligentsia Guild were far behind you, but some names still lingered in your mind.

“Bored already, our dear doctor?”

“...”

Right. You weren’t the only one in your office right now.

Kafka was sitting to your left, having taken a chair that was unoccupied in your office. And Blade was standing behind you, leaning against the wall as you felt eyes pour into the back of your head.

Chapter Text

It was 11 days until Stelle was finally out. 11 little squares until the one that was marked on your calendar, circled in red ink with doodles of stars around it.

You entirely forgot it was there, not the date, but rather the calendar that sat in the corner of your desk in your office. A stationary existing simply for aesthetics, gifted to you by Firefly. Mass-produced, probably was trendy a year ago, and highly impersonal.

Firefly was now way better at gifting, sometimes awfully competitive even, still, the calendar sat there at the corner of your desk as a little reminder of one of your coworkers.

You turned in your chair, fingers tapping the table as you stared at the computer screen. Elio stated that Herta’s Space Station would be Stelle's first destination, and there was a sealed Stellaron hidden away in there.

He never disclosed who would be in the ‘Act’, other than Kafka, but you were keenly interested in other things. A little reassurance about how safe your child would be once they left the hand of the Stellaron Hunters wouldn't hurt, after all, you treasured that little thing a lot.

You had basic information about the place, given many previous colleagues you had from the Intelligentsia Guild fawned over being able to work there, just to apply and fail miserably. After all, the Genius Society was a mysterious group among the thousand factions in the explored Universe, and Madam Herta was one of the only 3 of the esteemed geniuses to cooperate with the IPC. It was a “one-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, many said.

Fortunately, Elio (ordered Kafka to) came and snatched you away before you even started your application process. But it had been 3 years, and you wondered if any familiar names would pop up.

So you got to reading.

Which was how you were going to spend your morning before two people decided to crash into your office.

“Doctor~ It’s good to see you!”

You turned your eyes towards the door to the unexpected guest. Kafka was in the new coat you got her, with the smell of a perfume you didn't recognize (it was flowery, but nothing she had worn around you before).

The coat was nude-pink, long, and elegant with flared sleeves. Simple yet elegant. It caught your eyes immediately, and you simply thought it suited her too much not to buy it. You even went out of your way to buy a belt that matched the coat.

It was an impulsive decision, especially since you were sure she would make comments(flirty remarks) later about you going above and beyond. But she simply didn't, she accepted the coat with a gentle smile on her face.

"This is quite cute, doctor. I love it."

"I just thought it suits you."

"This must have cost a fortune, let me teach you how to steal them next time."...

A simple thank you and a smile, but a smile that somehow told you she didn't expect you to actually comply with her request.

Did she think that you cared so little about her? You wouldn't know, because you didn't ask.

And behind her was Blade, tailing behind while wearing the same expression he usually had, hand hugging the cracked sword he always carried around. He placed it on a little stand you got for him specifically and got on the examination table.

You eyed him. No injuries, no new scars, no sign of being Mara-stricken from what you could tell even at this distance. He had no reason to visit you.

Turning to look at Kafka, you paused, not sure if you could even look at her in the eye. You hadn’t recovered from that… incident (you're starting to consider making a ‘the collection of the unspoken moments that had happened between you and those two’), so you hadn't even mentally prepared to face them directly, yet. But you had questions that she had answers to.

"Why… are you two here?" you asked, your voice a little off.

She smiled, already standing near the edge of your desk. You caught a little more of her perfume(clearly expensive, made from a floral you didn't recognize).

"I believe you had forgotten something rather important, Doctor," she said, picking up the forgettable calendar and pointing at today’s date. “It's the 13th already.”

You frowned, trying to recall what was important about the date.

“My monthly check-up.” Blade said from where he was sitting.

“Oh…” you mumbled, looking at him apologetically. The mandatory check-up, how could you forget? Although, there was a certain anomaly that usually wasn’t there during this specific date. “But then why are you here then?”

Kafka raised an eyebrow, her smile widened. “Our Bladie asked me to accompany him…" Like hell you would believe that. "...and since you as the doctor value the patient's wishes, I sincerely think I am allowed to be here, no?"

You gave Blade a quick look, to which he nodded, so you really couldn't do anything about her.

“See? I wasn’t here just to annoy you~”

You gave her a look before quickly glancing away. Kafka placed the calendar back in its spot before her eyes wandered to what you had on the screen.

You dragged your mouse, about to put the computer on sleep mode before Kafka stopped you, holding your hand in place. Weren't they here to have Blade's check-up?

“Just keep reading, we don’t mind waiting, do we, Bladie?” Kafka said as she turned to look at Blade. He looked at her for a moment, eyes searching, filled with questions, but ultimately nodded and put his top back on.

“Wait… I could just-”

“But we insist, my dear.” Kafka said with her sweet voice, leaning in close, her sweet and expensive perfume flooded your nose. Normally, you would have shut her down rather quickly.

…

…

…

But now the existence that spells ‘annoying’ sitting to your left while the other that had screams ‘dangerously unnerving' was behind you, leaning against the wall. You were, undoubtedly, on edge.

It usually took you approximately 10 minutes to do a monthly check-up, if you didn’t include any blood test required. That only accounted for every member who was not Sam (a medical exam was useless for a robot after all.)

There was a series of psychological tests you had to run for him Blade, including determining the dosage of sleeping pills and sedatives you provided him monthly.

Were the tests required? No? Did Kafka take it up to Elio to specifically request one for him? Yes.

She cared deeply for him, but you didn't think she would care for him enough to accompany him to the check-up, unless there was something you weren't aware of.

And due to your incapability to deny your coworker(s)’s request (you swore it only applied solely to Silver Wolf before), it would be dragged on for whoever knows how long.

So you got to reading. You got through the first paragraph, silence. You skipped some parts, silence. You clicked off the page, a chuckle.

"Bored already, our dear doctor?” Kafka commented, turning to look straight at you. But even under her piercing gaze, you didn’t dare to look her straight in the eye, fearing being vulnerable.

"..." you stayed silent, gulped, lips pulsed, waiting for a further comment from her.

But none came. It was all silence.

It was all silence.

Blade looked at the top of the doctor's head as they switched the tabs before glancing at Kafka.

She had a rather… expecting look, one he knew well from working with her on missions. Like when reality runs like a script or the useless defiance shown on her victims. Expectancy came easy for someone like her. But she wasn’t waiting for some witty answer to come out of the doctor's mouth, she was waiting (hoping) for something new, odd, and out of place.

Something that gave her hope.

Because the relationship all three of them had previously wasn’t the same, shifted in whatever way Kafka deemed favorable to both him and her.

And the doctor’s clear hesitation to voice what they had in mind was exactly that, unusual.

So unusual that when they got on those simultaneous missions 2 weeks ago, he had to ask: ‘Would the doctor run away from them?’

He hoped not.

Or maybe she was wondering why the doctor hadn’t commented on the fact she wasn’t wearing the contacts they made for her. Kafka said it herself, it had been a while since the doctor had seen her eyes.

Blade knew the doctor wasn’t afraid to make eye contact, so the fact they hadn’t even noticed was another strange thing on top of that.

It was all silence.

And it was he who decided to rescue the doctor from whatever Kafka was having in mind. He stopped leaning against the wall and started taking off his top.

Which earned a chuckle from Kafka (‘What are you doing in front of the Doctor, Bladie?~’) and a relieved expression from the doctor.

“Let’s get it over with.” He hung it up and made his way to the examination table. He kept the bandages on though, hating the idea of wasting them even if everyone insisted on him changing them often.

There was some quick sound of the mouse clicking behind him, and after a short while, the doctor was where he was. Their hand summoned a holographic screen and after some tapping around, they sat down on a stool off to his left side. Kafka quickly followed, planting a kiss on his forehead, before choosing to stand to the doctor’s right, arms folded, expecting.

Once settled, the doctor closed their eyes, seemingly forgetting the awkwardness, whatever effect Blade and Kafka had on them suddenly vaporated as if nothing had happened.

He observed them, eyes poured onto the top of their head. They were back to the doctor he had always known, serious and indifferent.

The side that they had always shown him. Uncaring about anyone but him when they deemed him the most important at that moment.

You reopened your eyes, your eyes glowed gold of Imaginary.

Imaginary was the law of the Universe, powerful and all-knowing. All creation was created from it, and in turn, it knew everything. Everyone who yields it makes use of its almost unlimited capabilities in different ways.

For you, enchanting your eyes with Imaginary allows you to see traces of elemental power from the color of someone’s soul to their silhouette, to every inch of a person’s body… Useful for medical exams and spotting hidden enemies alike, that’s why you never fail to shoot someone’s brain out miles away.

There are downsides though, the world has become monochromatic to you and it can’t be used for prolonged periods of time due to how heightens your senses to the point you get overwhelmed easily.

You looked at Blade, examining him, now that you were of closer distance and he wasn't wearing his top. The light green color of the wind outlined his body, magnifying every detail. No anomalies, no signs, and no emergencies you had to immediately deal with.

He was fine, thank Aeons, because you didn’t want to deal with another case of someone not notifying you about their venomous pet spider biting them until dinner of the same day. (thanks Kafka, for always causing you unnecessary anxiety).

His muscle density was the same too, and how strong he was, if you didn't mention how more defined- You deemed you had seen enough and closed your eyes, consequently changing your sight back to normal. Adding some notes to the screen next to you (leaving out that one thought), you moved to the next part.

The normal procedures were carried out as usual. You measured Blade’s height, weight, reflexes,... Blood was drawn, and placed in test tubes to be reviewed later.

Once done, Blade put it back on his top, and you switched the tab for the psychological evaluations-

“Doctor, don’t tell me you make our Bladie talk about himself on this, I would say a rather uncomfortable examination table?” Kafka placed a hand on your shoulder, snapping you out of the repetitive notions. “Rather unaccommodating of you, dear.”

Your fingers trembled on the holographic keyboard, taking a moment to realize how close she was to you. Like that time she fed you those apple slices.

“He was the one who insisted on it.”

“Well, let’s change that, shall we?”

“What you mean by- woah!” She picked you up, bridal carried you to the little sitting area you set up for times when people just crashed into your office for no particular reason. Blade had already moved to the larger sofa, laying down on it.

“Now, I would gladly lend you my lap, our little treasure, but I’m sure you two could use some alone time.” she said, placing you down in front of an armchair and pushing you slightly down onto it. “I’ll be taking my leave ok?”

“What- Wait…” you were confused, and in that state of confusion, you made the mistake of looking up at her.

She was wearing no contacts. Her perfume had faded a little, or maybe it had just spread out in your office.

She was smiling, not smirking, smiling gently as if she was satisfied that you two finally made eye contact. You gulped, it was uncommon to see this side of her.

"Hum."

“Ok, ok, I'll leave now, see you later Bladie.” Kafka turned to address him. “And you too, Doctor.”

And just like that, she walked over to Blade to give him a kiss and then left you with him.

“...”

“...”

And the normal procedures were carried out. Seems like the dosage didn't need changes.

Even if you were uncertain about what those two were up to, you were certain about one thing:

Aeons, those two are going to be the end of you.

Chapter Text

11 days until Stelle is out.

Ⓨⓞⓤ ⓛⓞⓢⓣ. Ⓦⓞⓤⓛⓓ ⓨⓞⓤ ⓛⓘⓚⓔ ⓣⓞ ⓡⓔⓢⓣⓐⓡⓣ?

Silver Wolf gripped the game console, annoyed that she somehow missed that jump. Her ‘friends’ flew around, equally confused. That stage was supposed to be a cakewalk, so her immediately losing it could only mean one thing.

Her genius brain told her ‘that’ woman had arrived.

Silver Wolf looked at the entrance to the Lounge and there Kafka was. Contacts in, wearing the new coat the doctor got her, looking down at her phone, slightly annoyed. At what? Who knew.

But, the moment she saw Silver Wolf, her eyes seemed to brighten, like she saw the solution to her problem(s). She surely couldn't be up to no good. Especially since she was walking straight to where SW was sitting.

"Well hello there, Wolfie." Kafka said, probably already noticed that she lost.

"You made me lost, again."

Kafka only chuckled at her proclamations. "Elio told me that you were destined to lose that one anyway. Besides, I need you to get me something."

SW clicked her tongue and exited the game. Troublesome woman. The stage would have to be beaten when she's in the comfort of her room, then.

Putting the game console away, she looked up at the woman. "I don't think running errands was in my job description, Kafka."

Kafka simply smiled before pulling out a small box, which she placed on the coffee table in front of SW. It smelt sweet. A bribe.

"This is my little gift for you, should you choose to accept my offer." Kafka opened it, revealing some macaroons. SW’s ‘friends’ flew over to it, nodding and gleaming at the treats.

Confirmations that the macaroons had no poison or dangerous substances.

Silver Wolf looked at the promised sweets, contemplated, and then looked back up at Kafka. She hadn't sat down, which could only mean one thing.

"Is it that urgent?" Silver Wolf asked.

"If you set out today, I will pay you extra, with both sweets and credits, of course~ It's not something impossible, I can assure you that."

Extremely urgent then. But if it was in Silver Wolf's specialty, it wouldn't be that arduous, right? Let's hope she won't regret this.

"Name your price."

Kafka's smile widened slightly.

"I need you to get me a good cartridge. Small, high quality, a lot of storage."

Ok, that was a totally normal request. Silver Wolf nodded and opened up a holographic screen. She started scrolling to find good ones, Punklord had a bunch of those, she could just steal one. "Any specifics about the price?"

"The price isn't an issue, just give me the best you can find."

That was good. Silver Wolf stopped her mindless scrolling, and already picked out a good one.

"Alright, how does this model sound?"

Kafka approved Silver Wolf's suggestion rather quickly. It would be up for auction soon, so it wouldn't take SW more than a week to get it. Enough spare time to get back before the little child is out.

"Alright, that one it is. But what is this for? You know, just asking. Don't tell me you have a secret stash of pictures of the Doctor lying around?" Silver Wolf joked, knowing fully well it wasn't true-

"Your assumption is correct."

Oh, so her genius assumption was correct-

"What?"

"I got like 3 different cartridges, but all of them are full, so please get a good one, I would like to keep all the pictures in one place, three-year worth of pictures does take up quite a lot of storage."

What in the actual-

SW looked at Kafka completely and utterly dumbfounded. The smile on her face seemed to just get wider.

Just how many photos did she have? Was Silver Wolf becoming an accomplice? Would the Doctor never look her in the face if she accepted? Actually no, the Doctor would storm into Kafka's room and break the cartridge themself instead.

"Ah, please make sure it's indestructible too."

Oh...She had it all planned, didn't she?

"I would appreciate it if you treat this with the utmost priority. Bye-bye, Wolfie." She walked away, just like that.

Her 'friends' all flood around her, chipping and gushing. She took a look back at the macaroons, left untouched. She took a bite of one, delicious. She ate the rest, it was all amazing.

And she headed out of the Stellaron Hunters' HQ right after, with one question in mind.

Just how unusual were her co-workers?

The little sitting area was placed like in a living room, welcoming, and slightly furnished, yet still matched the aesthetic of the room. A big sofa with two armchairs, and a small coffee table in the middle. You sometimes ask yourself was this why people enjoyed crashing into your office?

Hopefully so. Back to Blade.

"How's your sleep?"

"Like usual."

You put 'Slightly better' down.

"Any complaints about the medicines ?"

"...No."

'No complaints about the medicines. Continue the experiments.'

You leaned back into the armchair, pressing some buttons on the holographic screen. You occasionally took glances at him, checking your patient.

Blade was lying there on the couch, eyes closed, breath slowed. His usual frown was gone, his face rather peaceful, like he was in a dream. He looked like Silver Wolf every time she decided to take a siesta on that very couch. If you hadn’t known him for long (or the fact he answered your questions), you would have mistaken it as he was sleeping.

Which wasn’t possible, for Blade at least.

Yet there he was in your office, looking as if he was calm and tranquil. A strange sight that you were getting accustomed to, even then, you didn't dare to interrupt the unusual peace.

"Is there anything else, Doctor?" Blade's voice suddenly broke the silence.

You took a moment to respond. Maybe because you hoped to prolong the unexplainable peace you felt from him. But you answered in the end.

"That should be it."

Usually, this was when the swordsman stood up, grabbed his sword, cast you a glance to signal he was leaving, and left your office. Quick, simple, Blade.

But he remained there, eyes closed. Like he was contemplating something. You observed him, waiting for his next words and action.

"Doctor." He called out to you and rose to a seated position. His eyes were fixated upon you. Had he made up his mind?

"Yes?"

“Can I accompany you today?” Blade asked with a stone-cold face.

You froze, not knowing how to respond to the sudden request.

"Can I accompany you today?" He repeated, no changes in his expression.

"What about Kafka?"

"She has business to attend to.”

“Yet she took the time to come to this little check-up with you?”

Blade diverted his eyes like he didn’t have any excuses prepared. “Yes.” He answered like a sad little puppy before returning his gaze back up to meet yours.

Persistent. Yearning. Why?

You two kept eye contact for at least another minute. You waited for him to spill what he actually wanted, and you were sure he knew that. Lying to you meant nothing.

“Don’t get me wrong, Doctor, I simply want to accompany you, nothing else.” He said, his voice breaking slightly.

His eyes told you he was telling the truth, your gut told you he just wanted to be by your side, at least for today. Blade was an honest and straightforward person, you knew that well, but your own mind refused to accept such possibilities.

Untrusting, questioning. Uncertain. Anxious

Unconsciously, your nails dug slightly into the armrest, fingers curled up into each other. Blade eyes diverted to them before returning back to meet your eyes. Maybe he noticed something, maybe he was only alerted by the sudden movements.

But he didn’t back down.

“I believe I deserve an answer, Doctor.”

Unnerving. Dangerous. Want.

You didn't like what his eyes were telling you. But you weren't one to deny someone an answer. “... Not today, Blade.”

He simply nodded and got off the sofa. He grabbed his sword from the stand you got him and turned his head slightly back at you. But he didn’t leave immediately. Unusual.

“Good day to you, Doctor.” Then he left.

You stared at his wide back, the one you had seen often for the past 2 years. The way it was pierced through countless times protecting you, by swords, spears, bullets,...The way it was littered with scars, many having been there for so long even you started to remember. The way many on it were only slightly visible, thanks to your power.

He looked dependable, it felt reassuring being behind him, like a shield that wouldn’t let your body suffer anything.

You were certain of that.

And yet, you didn’t fully trust him. Rather, you found it hard to trust him with more than your safety. How untrusting of you.

You leaned back into the armchair, looking up at the ceiling. Contemplating.

Sometimes it felt weird doing things you were punished for, whether that was being able to lift up your head or taking time to wonder if this was right. That the things being done were right, was it truly kindness what little you experienced?

Does something such as ‘an act of kindness’ even exist?

You were taught the answer to that question was no, and you didn't think it would be anytime soon when the answer would become something more positive.

"The Doctor will refuse your request"

That was what Destiny’s Slave told him.

He stopped in his tracks, pausing to consider the words he just heard. The cat didn’t speak of more prophecies, simply sat there, waving its tail at him.

Telling him to accept it, that it was already predetermined.

Elio never cared if people ignored his predictions, human had their free will after all. But there were things that could never be changed, even if there were limitless choices that could lead to limitless possibilities.

“I understand.” He uttered, leaving the room.

Blade chose to try to defy destiny, to still verbal his request, but it simply followed what was foresaw instead.

And so, he was back in that office again. Like Destiny's Slave had ordered.

The cat was at its usual spot, on the desk, bright green eyes staring at him. The cat didn’t have an expression, but its gaze was as penetrating as that spear. Elio knew.

"There’s a chance that the day will go on as usual, so this could just be a normal transaction. But there’s also a chance that the place will be attacked, and you know what to do if that happens."

The humanoid robot that stood beside him pulled out a blue cage, small, yet comfortable enough for its intended user. It was time for a new mission.

Chapter Text

10 days until Stelle is out.

Alarm: 6:35

You groaned and rolled over to turn off your alarm, doing your best in the sleepy state you were in not to throw it across the room. Bringing the barely lit screen to your face, you checked the Stellaron Hunters' group chat, as per habit.

Those were the messages you woke up to, all sent after midnight. Not an unusual sight. Turning off the screen and tossing your phone somewhere on the bed, you yawned and pulled your blanket over your head.

So Blade, Sam, and Elio were gone. And also Silver Wolf… Stelle’s vitals (technically everyone’s) were good, given you didn’t wake up to an ear-deafening sound.

The bed felt like it wasn’t going to let you go anytime soon, so comfy and warm, maybe you should just sleep in and do absolutely nothing productive today. Yeah... that's a good idea, back to sleep you go...

You closed your eyes, but instead of pitch black, there was a dim purple color shining through your eyelids.

Pixelated noise

You pulled the blanket down, much to the little light source's delight. One of SW's ‘friends’ was floating above your head.

"Hello little one…" you mumbled sleepily, the little one was beaming with holographic messages, with both hands on her hips to indicate how serious she was. A sight you had gotten used to in the last 6 months.

You wiped your eyes and read the message: “You’re on breakfast duties today.”

Oh, you already knew that, you simply didn't want to do it. Closing your eyes, you attempted to just go back to sleep until...

You remember the last time someone tried to do that (ahem Silver Wolf, ahem), they got loud rock music from that band called 'Sizzling Thunder' blasted into their ears. Even so, the blanket was so so inviting.

“Can’t I just…?”

She shook her head, showing an angry emoji in a thought bubble while putting her hands on her hips. It was inescapable, wasn't it?

You groaned and sat up, massaging the back of your neck. First, you got straight to your normal morning routine, keeping your personal hygiene up while focusing on getting it over with.

Putting on comfortable clothes, you took one look in the mirror to confirm you looked decent enough. You did.

Back into your bedroom, the little one popped out and scanned you head to toe while making small pixelated sounds. She seemed happy.

‘Cute and adorable’, just like the hacker who made them. Never mind how impractical it was, you reached your head out toward her imaginary head. She didn’t look confused, maybe you did it enough time with Wolfie that everyone knew it was a habit?

“Hurry up, Doctor.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get straight to it.”

Locking your door, you headed straight to the kitchen, with SW’s ‘friend’ accompanying you.

6:57 am, HQ’s time

It took you 3 minutes (and probably 20 yawns) to walk to the kitchen. It was at the center of the HQ, connected to the Longue, and easily accessed by anyone.

The light turned on when you stepped foot into the kitchen, lighting up the spacious place. It had all you needed, tool-wise. Let’s hope the ingredients were fully stocked too.

You walked over to the pantry, mentally noting what was there before moving to the fridge. Ignore the copious amount of energy drinks and leftovers, seemed like you had a variety of dishes you could make today.

“Let’s see…” you closed the fridge, fingers tapping against its door. It wasn’t hard to decide what you want for breakfast, but for others? You should check the breakfast request list. Every organization had some sort of important list, and for Stellaron Hunters, it was this one. Sorted by who was in the HQ at the time.

Tapping on the screen of the fridge and clicking on the list, you were greeted by… an empty list.

“Huh…” When was the last time you saw the breakfast request list empty? It wasn’t rare that one or two people forgot, but everyone? What happened to 'the breakfast request list is the most important thing' (-Elio)? Guess you would have to do it the old-fashioned way.

“Hum.. Who’s still in the HQ?...” you mumbled to yourself.

Everyone usually does it the day before, except Blade, who usually makes his list at the start of the month. So when someone forgets, you must do it the traditional way. Asking them what they want, of course.

First, eliminate who 'wasn't' in the HQ. Elio, Sam, and Silver Wolf were gone. So that left…

You paused, fingers stopped tapping the screen. Everyone was gone from the HQ, except for...Kafka.

The last time that happened, you two–

You shocked your head. Not the time to remember that one-time thing, you should focus on getting what Kafka wanted for breakfast.

Pulling out your phone, searching for her contacts, and...

“Eggs on toast please, and tea if you will, Doctor. Just how I usually like it.”

You turned your head around to already see Kafka standing behind you. She was dressed up in an oversized T-shirt (you couldn't see her shorts) with her hair down. You didn’t smell any perfume coming from her, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup. She didn’t even have the contact lenses you made her in. Like she walked straight here after she woke up.

That wasn’t the first thing you noticed though, given how she didn’t even bother to hide all the hickeys and love marks on her body. Shameless. Typical Kafka.

“I don’t believe you’ve developed a staring problem like Bladie, have you?” Kafka’s voice brought your attention back to what you should– were doing, so your attention back to the fridge. Maybe you were equally as shameless as her.

“I’ll get to making it.” Opening the fridge, you took out the ingredients necessary to make both your breakfasts. “Mind boiling the water?”

“Glad to do anything for you, dear~” she said, walking towards where you were. “Especially since you seemed to recover from what happened two weeks ago.”

You glared at her, and she sent you a smile in return. Pleased. And awfully annoying.

Then you started cooking.

7:29 am, HQ’s time

“Why are you always appearing behind me?” You asked, putting two sugar cubes into Kafka's cup of tea. Just like how she usually liked it.

You two decided to eat in the Lounge, well actually, Kafka decided you were going to eat with her in the Lounge.

”I’m going to my room to eat.”

”Why not join me in the Lounge? It would make cleaning up easier.”

”You can eat alone if you want to.”

"Listen: Eat breakfast in the Loungue with me.”

And just like that, you were sitting across from her, barely able to find where to put your eyes. You settled on just focusing on your breakfast.

“Training you on your detection skills.” She answered. “Which is apparently getting worse from being locked up in the HQ for too long.”

"You’re just getting sneakier.” you commented, taking another bite.

“Then how about we train after this?” you stopped in the middle of chewing and looked up at her. No, no, anything but that– “Since you will be needed soon, Elio told me. I’m sure he texted you about it too.”

You pulled out your phone, one unread message from Elio.

…

Aeons above…

You sighed and took a gulp of water, guess you have no other choices then.

Focusing back on eating your breakfast, probably 5 or 6 more bites left, you lament your dream of having a free day.

“Doctor.”

“Hum?” You took a bite out of your breakfast, wondering why Kafka suddenly addressed you. “Is there anything else?”

Kafka's posture shifted, leaning forward, back straight, even her typical smile was gone.

“It’s about Blade.” Her tone turned serious, she didn’t even bother with the nickname. “Did you notice any odd about him in yesterday’s check-up?”

You slowed your chewing down and contemplated the answer you would have to give.

“Nope. Was he behaving differently than normal?” Then you immediately took another bite. Acting like you weren’t interested in her answer.

She also took a bite, almost mimicking your behavior. Dragging this on so one side would give in. Both of you knew it would end in a stalemate if this continued. But you weren't one to back down.

Suddenly, she settled her fork down and started lifting her hand.

“Take a look at this.” You followed where her finger pointed, her neck, which again was covered in love bites and hickeys. “Notice anything odd?”

You narrowed your gaze, staring at them for the second time today before shaking your head. They seemed like all the others you had seen on her.

Did she actually expect you to know what she was insinuating? It wasn't like you were even that close to them to know (were you?).

“And here I thought you would be keen enough to notice.” you weren’t.

“Just get on with the answer.”

“Well, he’s being more aggressive these days. And before you start listing off how he was ‘always’ aggressive…” Kafka started to trail off. “... remember that I’m the one dating and having sex with him. So I know him better,”

You scoffed. “I’m not interested in your sex life, Kafka. Or Blade’s.”

“And unfortunately, you better be, since I’m talking about it right now.” You wish you could just take your meal and go somewhere else, but this involved your patient and something you had been working on for a while, so you must endure.

Feining interest. For whoever is at stake. "Then, I’m interested.”

“Blade’s Mara seemed awfully harder to control these days. As in increasingly harder to. I noticed it last month, but who knows how long this has been going on?”

Alright, there were a few possibilities that could lead to that.

“Is your…”

“I used my Spirit Whisper on you a few minutes ago, dear, did it seem like my skills got worse? Need me to do it a second time?”

You shook your head. No. It seemed as effective as it was like any other time. Seemed like she wasn’t only doing that because she wanted you to eat with her. One possibility down.

“Past-related things?”

“I don’t believe so. He hasn’t been exposed to anything even remotely Xianzhou-related these past few weeks. Nor was he caught in an all-out fight either. At least I believe so.” Kafka took the last bite of her meal, eyes focusing only on you.

“Nothing explains what’s occurring huh?”

“Not only that…” she pushed her plate aside and leaned over the table, placing her finger under your chin. “... you as our dearest and most talented Doctor didn’t even notice. I’m wondering if being cooped up in the HQ is affecting you negatively.”

You frowned, she was being provocative. Trying to see if you were hiding something.

“I can assure you I have no idea why the Mara is behaving like this.”

Kafka hummed at your answer, before forcefully grabbing your chin, effectively making you lean a little toward her. She wanted answers. Which you weren’t willing to give.

“Excuses, excuses. I hate the fact you’re so smart sometimes.”

“And it still doesn’t alter the fact I have no knowledge of this until you told me. ” You said and slapped her hand away from your face. She simply sat back down after that, she seemed… annoyed.

“I’ll look back into his medical files to see if anything would help, but it’s not a guarantee. Happy?” you said, crossing your arms.

Kafka looked at you with a blank expression, blocking you from guessing what she had in mind.

“Then answer me this, Doctor. How much do you care about Blade?”

How much did you care for Blade?

You turned your gaze away, thinking about the question. The answer on your mind hadn’t changed, but… something felt different, like you were hesitating.

“I… I care about him as much as I cared about any of you.” You looked back at her and answered, trying not to let your composure falter.

She didn't react to your words, she simply looked at you in the eyes, lingering. Like it would help her get the answers she wanted. You didn't say anything after that.

“I’ll ask again later then.” She said, picking up both your plate and hers before heading back to the kitchen.

Had the effect become that noticeable? Even Blade hadn’t said anything. But that was Blade you were talking about, of course, he wouldn’t say anything. Maybe you should reduce the dosage…

But more importantly, why did she ask that?

You looked down at your hand, fidgeting with the table’s cloth before dousing the rest of your cup. Damm Kafka for only cleaning up the plates.

You opened a new page in your note app and wrote down all the questions you could think of before bringing the rest of the cutlery and cups back into the kitchen.

It was more important to get mentally ready for what training (torture) Kafka was going to put you through than trying to decipher what she meant. Speaking of Kafka, she was smirking next to an open dishwasher.

You kneeled down and placed everything into the dishwasher before closing it. “Really couldn’t bring everything huh?”

“Every relationship is 50/50 with me, darling~” You sighed and stood up.

Why were you stuck with her?

5:07 pm, HQ’s time

“I’m sure you can do it, can you hold out a little more for me, darling~?”

You wanted to tell her that you can't.

But you didn't end up doing so.

Chapter Text

6:45 pm, Punklord.

Silver Wolf chuckled at the nickname she set for the Doctor on her phone. Took a lot of convincing on her part for them to finally accept it though.

“And here’s your popcorn and drink, miss, have a nice day.”

"Thanks" She muttered as she grabbed the popcorn and slushy.

Silver Wolf clicked sent as she walked out of the store, eyes glued to her phone. It should take the Doctor a few minutes to reply, but she wasn’t in a hurry anyway.

She had already picked up the phone Elio ordered for Stelle, not something she would have personally picked. But Elio probably had other plans and her job was to upgrade it to the best of her abilities.

And she had one other thing she wanted to buy for that child too, on her own.

There was an advertisement for a newly launched board game, a collaboration of the Marketing Team and some novices. Something about rummaging for treasures.

Sounded like something a child would enjoy.

And just like that, she walked out of a store with a newly launched board game and a few merch to display in her room. No reason to hold back after all, given this trip was getting paid by Kafka.

She smiled brightly at the items. Now all she had to do was alter their code to shrink them down and she was set to do whatever she needed to do.

Ding

At the notification sound, SW checked her messages, and surely enough, the Doctor had replied.

Talking about things her coworkers would need, she should think about how to make Blade play with her. Maybe a device that he would still be able to control despite the wounds. Gotta console the Doctor then.

Eh, that would be for another time.

“The scan is completed. 82 blind-spot founded.”

"Good"

Now it was safe to teleport to the auction house without getting noticed.

She clicked one button and soon arrived on the rooftop of a skyscraper. The signature billboards and signs of Punklord around the building lighted the whole city up. It wasn’t a surprise that the planet suffered from awful light pollution.

Around her were rich people enjoying cocktails in an open bar. All dressed in clothing similar to hers, nothing formal looking. Punklordians valued productivity far more than aesthetics after all. Unless it came to beating someone else.

Silver Wolf ate a mouthful of popcorn before hearing some grasp around her. Right, Stellaron Hunter with billions on her head.

She made herself invisible and quickly thought of where to teleport.

Her genius brain told her of an amazing place that was both private and could oversee the whole auction. Sweet, exactly what she needed.

So she teleported to the control room overseeing the auction room.

It had some pretty impressive equipment, and its operator seemed to be tinkering with some of the buttons.

Normally she would go straight to stealing the cartridge, but Kafka said it would be rude to the sellers. Something about “Craftsmen deserve recognition one way or another.”

Seemed like she would be bored to death by the time the auction began. But this was Kafka's (or Elio’s) money she was spending, so SW wouldn't mind enduring it for too long.

She checked her phone and sure enough.

Ok, something tasty for the Doctor, the cartridge for Kafka. Maybe she would set up Stelle’s phone in the meantime as well. And pay attention to anything that could prove useful.

“What do you mean by that hacker Silver Wolf is here?”

“Some people said they saw her, but she disappeared shortly after. Couldn’t mistake her for someone else when there’s a billion credits for her capture.”

The whispers in the auction house seemed to grow by the minute. Having a literal legend be in the same room as them was no joke.

After all, if Xianzhou natives grew up with tales of the Hunt and heroes, Punklordian, listened to stories of legendary hackers.

And with every name, there was a certain feeling attached to it. Annoyance, admiration, despise, disgust,...

But as all legends came to the same fate, their names meant one thing to those who messed with the data of reality: Motivation.

And what was more motivating than having one of the so-called ‘legendary’ potentially be interested in the thing they were here to buy?

Searching for any traces of the young girl, a few of them sent drones into the air. A rather questionable move. Yet some more caught onto the idea and ran to do the same.

In a matter of seconds, the stage looked like it was being broadcast to the whole Universe.

With all the drones facing anywhere but the stage, of course.

"Where's that damm girl--"

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who don’t identify as the previous; welcome to ‘Punklord’s very special auction that happens every two weeks’. I am your host and-”

The audience, typical of Punklordians, started booing at the long speech. Not soon after, the robot collapsed, probably because of a hacker. Another robot simply appeared in its place and continued the speech.

“-and to begin our auction….”

“Where the heck is that bitch? I swear by the time I caught her, that 3 billion bounty is mine! Huh–”

And in the blink of an eye, all the drones exploded. Some chuckled at this sight, while most looked confused, then angry. Silver Wolf's bounty wouldn't even cover half the cost of those drones.

“... I would like to ask all buyers to respect the rules of the Auction house.” the robot auctioneer said in its cold voice before being blown up.

And another robot appeared in its place and continued. But this time, the attention was switched back to where it was intended to be, the stage.

“And we have established that the fact you are here meant you are knowledgable about the rules, so suing us is useless. Now, we will start with …!”

Then, the auction officially began.

The first-ups were considered trash, only newbies and those who had money to spend would bother with them. Like that third item, it had been on auction for at least a year now, and even after the prices offered dropped to the lowest it could be, no one would buy it.

“100 credits.”

Surprisingly, someone offered to buy the thing. And unsurprisingly, that person got it without any trouble.

This went on and on and on until...

“And sold to the gentleman in seat 124!”

"Now to the tenth item, please take a look at this magnificent cartridge, priced at--"

“--250 thousand credits."

"251 thousand!"

"500!"

"1 million!"

"250 thousand." The reserved price was amplified around the room, said a young woman's voice. Just then, colorful blocks appeared on stage, along with some virtue avatars.

SW stood on the stage, right in front of the podium, hands on her hips. "I already transferred the money, just give me the thing.”

“I’m sorry miss but the highest bid right now is 1 million.” the robot calmly said as everyone shouted higher prices.

"Do I look like I care about how auctions work?"

"Nonsense miss, please adhere to our rules."

Behind her, sounds of button smashing and curses flew through the air, but nothing seemed to happen. Disabling all their techs wasn't difficult.

Silver Wolf blew another bubble before tapping some buttons on her holographic screen.

“I’ll just disable all these fuckers bank accounts then. That way unless I get what I want, no one has the money to pay for anything." she said, her voice still amplified.

"Also, don’t even try to prove you have that amount, I make it so the numbers will glitch every 0.02 seconds.”

Some pulled out their phones, the screens flashed as the numbers changed like a slot machine.

The robot stood there silently, awaiting orders. Silver Wolf seemed more impatient by the second. It seemed like all the robots in the auction house were next if they didn't hurry.

Then, the robot turned, walked to the glass display of the item, and retrieved it. Turning to the crowd, the robot handed Silver Wolf the cartridge.

“Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, seeing that none of you can pay unless this lady gets the item, I shall declare the item to be sold to Miss.”

Silver Wolf grabbed the thing to inspect it. No scratches, perfect condition.

"And miss." Silver Wolf hummed before looking up at the robot. Now that one mentioned it, it looked like Screwlum. "The head of the auction house kindly asks for you to never come back again.

She smirked in victory before disappearing in colorful blocks.

The game called Auction item for Kafka has ended.

10:11 pm, Stellaron Hunter’s HQ.

Door locked, room temperature perfectly.

A good way to end your day filled with Kafka.

You placed the herbs onto the candle before burning it. Incense filled the room, a smell you rarely encounter these days. It filled you with a sense of calm and tranquility like you were in an endless dream filled with happiness and joy.

You always wondered if this was what it felt like to be healed by you.

Channeling a small part of your power into your hand, it interacted with the ring you had put on. A relic you received a long time ago.

You looked down at it, the jade stone shined a faint yellow and reflected on the silver it was bound to. The ring brought nostalgia, not one that you liked. But you had been carrying it around long enough that it felt like a possession of yours.

It was yours.

Not of that woman. No longer of that woman.

You toyed with it, the metal seemed to warm up. You wished you could appreciate its beauty alongside its usefulness. You couldn't, and you didn't want to unlearn that habit.

You closed your eyes, it wasn’t time to dwell on the past.

First, you focused on your breathing.

Then, you searched your bodies for where to head first.

Your legs hurt. It ached from having to run laps upon laps, not to mention the cardio exercises. So that was where you targeted first.

Surges of energy flowed into the muscles, and your leg slowly relaxed.

Then, you focused on other parts of your body: your arms, your thighs, your stiff neck. It felt like you were peacefully drifting into a dream, the pain you experienced prior dissipating into thin air. You could stay this way for hours--

Beep Beep

“You have a delivery. You have a delivery. Please open the door.”

You opened your eyes to the sound, grounding yourself back into reality.

Right, you were in your room, meditating on your bed.

“You have a delivery. You have a delivery. Please open the door.”

You darted your eyes to the door, languidly reaching for the small button to open fixated on the wall above your nightstand.

The door slid open and the small robot floated in, on the tray was a plain cup of hot chocolate with a note.

“Here’s your delivery. ^-^”

You reached out for the letter note first.

“Get plenty of sleep, Mission tomorrow.” - Elio.

The text was printed, short, and to the point, just how Elio was.

You slightly rubbed the corner of the letter before placing it down on the nightstand.

Then you reached for the cups. Just as you did so, the robot beeped happily and made its way to the door that you left open.

You stared at the beverage. The three marshmallows on top were slightly melted to create small white swirls. You took a sniff before taking a sip.

Sickeningly sweet.

It reminded you that you still had to brush your teeth. You took a gulp before grabbing your phone. Elio mentioned that you needn’t check on your coworker's health today.

Even so, you looked at the report of each of their monitors. Silver Wolf’s heart rate seemed to spike slightly at one point in the evening. Perhaps she finished a game?

Kafka’s was abnormally high, and given her other stats, it was most likely– you didn’t even want to guess. Elio, Blade, and Firefly seemed fine, but you double-checked Firefly’s stat.

Nothing indicated an emergency. Probably best to have Elio tell one of your coworkers to get you another Lesser Sting, was it too late to ask Wolfie?

You texted Elio the request/suggestion as you gulped down the rest of the hot chocolate.

You wondered who made it before heading to the bathroom. A good 8 hours of sleep would help with the next mission.

Chapter Text

9 days until Stelle is out.

8:30 am, Stellaron Hunter’s HQ.

"Face scan completed."

You opened the door and turned on the light. A room that had been designated for one purpose. Inside, your dearest creation float resided, floating in a pod of green liquid. A sight you knew all too well.

Turning on the light, you picked up the datapad containing all the information you need. Everything was stable, all under control. She was healthy.

It felt a little strange. Maybe because you just got back from checking on Firefly. She wasn't... exactly doing well. The numbers just kept getting worse. Yet, she seemed more optimistic than you.

And from what she told you, the others were doing well. You sighed and put the datapad down. Elio didn't give any instructions, so there was nothing to worry about. Right?

You walked closer to the tube, watching as the child peacefully slept. It evoked a fear you had when you first worked on the project. That she may end up like Firefly. It was a possibility, Elio said. But he said the precaution you had would prevent such an event.

You placed a hand on the glass pane, murmuring a lullaby you heard many years ago. You sang it to Firefly from time to time. It brought memories, gentle and loving ones, accompanied by sweet dreams. Promises of happiness and joy.

It represented your wishes for her.

It was sung by loved ones, by friends, by trusted people. A harmony you were a part of many, many years ago. Filled with love and adoration.

9 days.

9 more days till you could sing lullabies to the child. You wondered what Stelle’s personality would be like, and how it would change over time.

What food she would like? Sweet or savory? What would she be good at? What games would she like to play? What bedtime stories you would read to her? Would she like the lullabies as much as you like them?

You imagined walking her through endless shops, waiting patiently for her to pick whatever she wanted. Would the items on display be the thing to draw her attention? Or would it be the theme? Or would she simply go into every shop out of curiosity?

Would she ask a lot about the Universe? Like the stars? How they are made and died. Why does it happen? Or what are the floaty things that are around Wolfie? Would Wolfie even allow Stelle to call her that?

Maybe if she plays some games with the hacker, maybe she would allow it.

On that note, would Stelle get along well with everyone? You hoped so.

Yet it was only 9 days left until she would be handed to Kafka soon. You would no longer be expected to hold any responsibility for her.

It left you with a bittersweet feeling.

What path would the child go down? What would she think of her destiny, one that was already written out for her before she was even formed?

Elio never disclosed the script to you, only promised you were included in it. Not very reassuring, you told the man.

The last sentence of the lullaby got caught in your throat, and you finished it in a small hushed tone.

You opened your eyes, looking down at your feet. Would you even get to be there as she experiences new things?

Taking a few steps away from the pod, you observed the child. Your most beautiful creation.

Silver hair, fair skin, tall figure… A creation that you adorned with all your heart.

One day you would create things for the child, just like how you did for your other co-workers.

“I hope you shine brighter than any stars, Stelle.” You whispered.

The green shine of the liquid seemed to pulse a little. Not a rare occurrence.

“Ready to go, Doctor?”

You took a deep breath. “Yes,” You said, turning to the door. “and can you stop appearing behind me?”

Kafka chuckled as she closed the door. She was back in her usual attire. “I can’t promise that, darling. You know how I am."

You sighed as she approached with a big grin on her face. "Especially since you’re so easy to sneak up from behind, all loss in thoughts.”

You were about to drag her out of the room for entering without permission. How did she get in here anyway? Did you forget to close the door?

Before you realized it, she had closed the distance, her face too close as she leaned down to your height. You threw your right hand up out of instinct and her face landed in your hand.

She planted a kiss in it before you could react.

“Always make me wonder what goes on in that wonderful brain of yours, little treasure~.”

Kafka’s eyes squinted. She was looking directly into your eyes. She was also wearing her contacts. You missed seeing her real eyes. Made you regret a tad bit for making the contact lenses so easy to wear.

Your hand was on her left cheek, and yet you could tell how wide her grin was. The skin on her face was soft, flawless. She didn’t have much makeup on too. You could smell her favorite perfume.

She was too beautiful for her own good. For your own good.

“Enjoying looking at my face, hum Doctor~”

You snapped out of whatever you were in and took a step back. Kafka seemed awfully pleased with your reaction.

You glared at Kafka as you repetitively shook your right hand. Such an annoying woman.

"Then what does 'being interested in what I am thinking' have to do with all the flirting?" You said, pretending to make a face full of disgust. "A very unreasonable excuse in my opinion."

"Do I need an excuse to flirt with you now? After 2 full years? I thought we were beyond that now. But then again..." Kafka's smile widened as took a step closer again. "... my attempts at being obvious seemed utterly useless until recently."

You glared at her. She tilted her head playfully. It wasn't your fault you didn't register her 'actions' as whatever she intended it to be. She was hard to read or understand.

Annoying woman.

Just as you were thinking up a response, a notification came from both of your phones.

Ding

Elio had texted. Great timing.

Straight to the point, as per usual.

You opened the script and scanned it.

Actors: Kafka, [Name], Blade.

You, Kafka, and… Blade? would be in it? Didn't make sense. You continued to read. Only a small description was included in yours. No dialogue, just very specific orders on snipping down a mafia boss from outside. Awkwardly easy.

“Why is Blade in my script? Shouldn’t he be with Sam and Elio?”

“Who knows? Elio didn’t mention it to me either. But Blade will be fighting alongside me in my script.”

You sighed. Seemed like you were the side character this time around.

You threw your phone into a pocket before looking up at Kafka.

She was already looking at you, smiling expectantly.

“Let’s go then, we can discuss on the way to the planet.” She said and held out her hand. You remembered how those hands felt on your body.

"You go first. I need to double-check Stelle's stats." You gave an excuse, already walking over to the datapad.

"Oh really now?" Kafka raised her eyebrows at you, not fully buying it.

"Yes really. Now go before I decide scolding you on entering without permission was worth Elio's wrath."

You said and focused on the numbers on the screen. She sighed and headed out, hopefully forgetting your earlier conversation.

6:30 pm, Unknown planet.

You sneezed as you pushed the front door of the safehouse open, almost slipping in the process.

“Careful, Doctor.” You heard Kafka say as she took the grocery bags from your hands.

"Thanks." You said as you closed the front door. Quickly, you peeled off your raincoat and threw it on the hangers you had brought out prior.

Kafka threw hers in the trash, cheap and ripped at the back. You would need to give her one of your spare raincoats.

“You need to go dry yourself before you catch a cold.” You said as your teeth clicked together from the cold. “I’ll put away the groceries, the meat can’t be left in there too long.”

Kafka looked at you. “You’re also drenched, Doctor. And shivering.”

“Less than you.” You refuted, already reaching for the two grocery bags. “We only have 9 system hours until the mission, we both can’t afford to be sick.” At your words, you waited for her to head off.

Her eyes darted around your form. Concerned. But she headed off to the room she had picked without another word.

And you headed to the kitchen, trying not to trip on the fake wood floor. The light was slightly dim, but you could say so for the rest of the house.

Even so, the house was on the nicer side compared to the ones you had walked across. It seemed like this town barely got enough electricity.

You were annoyed at everything. You hadn't even known there was a safe house on this planet.

It held no particular significance, no resources that one could exploit. No wonder the IPC didn't barely even pay attention to it. Underdeveloped and not very valuable. There wasn't even a navigational tool and it took a lot of asking to find your way around.

From space, the planet appeared to be gloomy and sad, with clouds covering most of the atmosphere. The quick search you did also tell you as much.

Yet the almost depressing vibe it had was an astonishment. It didn't have the vibe of a planet under the Family.

Not to mention the heavy rain that seemed to always be present. You wondered how the humidity hadn't driven anyone insane.

It hadn't stopped raining since you got onto the planet with Kafka 3 hours ago. Everything was getting on your nerves.

The locals said it was because of gods and legends. Elio's script told you otherwise. A Stellaron located somewhere in the planet's Eastern continent was the cause of this.

Yet you were on the Western one. Kafka said Destiny Slave had other plans for the Stellaron.

And from your observation, the resident seemed largely unaffected by the Stellaron. If one wouldn't count being unsettlingly cheerful as a potential symptom.

How the people managed to be so optimistic was beyond you.

The wind howling outside made the feeling inside of you worse. You were starting to get worried. You was unsure why you were getting so worked up.

You went through the grocery bags. There were a few things you put in the fridge right away. Beef, pork, some greens, broth. Nutritious and delicious if prepared correctly.

You also started making some ice, putting three tray-worths into the freezer.

By the time you were done, your clothes had semi-dried uncomfortably onto your skin. The humidity was getting to you. The place didn’t have a dehumidifier. You cursed under your breath.

It made you want to claw at your skin.

Abandoning the rest, you headed straight for your room.

It was medium-sized and boring. Yet it was driving you even more annoyed.

Rumaging through your bags, you grabbed a random pair of clothes and bolted for the bathroom.

It had the exact same vibe as the bedroom and the remaining of the house. Nerve-wracking

But it had a shower. You checked for hot water and the warm stream you were met with felt like a blessing. You immediately threw off your clothes and stepped into the shower.

It felt like heaven. A clear contrast to the state you were in. A relief beyond descriptions.

If it were a bathtub, you could sleep in there. You would. But not today.

You hastily washed your hair and body, the uncomfortable feeling leaving your body. No more feeling like a drenched, unhappy puppy.

Stepping out of the shower, you dried up and got into the new set of clothes. Your wet ones were left there on the sink counter.

You sneezed a couple of times as you went back to the bedroom. You could feel your power slowly push back the expected cold.

8.5 system hours until the mission.

Everything was still getting on your nerves. It had been a long time since you last got sick. And the light was momentarily flickering.

What a headache.

You wanted to go to sleep. Maybe a short nap would be fine. The mission didn't seem too difficult anyway.

So you texted Kafka, set a few alarms for 3 hours later, and went to take a nap.

The Hunt was nowhere to be seen. No gravitation fluctuation. No rainbow color trails to be seen.

Maybe they had managed to escape them, for the time being.

The being relaxed, smoothing down the veil on their head.

‘Oh… Is this the Harmony’s territory? There are signs of them… Wait.’

The being looked closer at the Galaxy they had stumbled upon while avoiding the Hunt’s pursuit. An elemental trace that looked too familiar to be mistaken.

Gold, filled with curiosity for the wonders of the world.

One of their Emanators.

Chapter Text

You couldn't sleep.

Even when your body yearned for rest, your mind continued being restless. You tried to meditate.

To relax. It was easy before, you had done so night after night, time after time again.

Yet your body remained tense.

Yet your train of thoughts never sieged.

It was not a surprise though, there was a lot going on currently. This was your first mission after more than 5 months. No more being stuck in the HQ.

The script this time seemed easy. Just a simple mission to collect something. No dialogues, no dressing up, no playing hide-and-seek with the enemies.

The script was short, 5-minute short film kinda short. The first part was the same for both you and Kafka.

'Go to ---------, 4 system hours away. Western Continent. Small town, a prepared safehouse in the south. 1:48:09 system time: Go to an abandoned building on a hill northwest of the center. Coordinate: ... Ask the local if a compass and technological devices are unusable. Wait till 1:53 system time.

This was where your script differed from her.

'Hide on a tree with a clear sight of a large window that curved around a side of the building. 2:05:23 system time: Shot the man through the glass window even if Kafka and Blade haven't reached the room. He wears a fedora. One bullet is enough.'

Short, easy, and straightforward. And concrete.

'One bullet is enough.'

Elio always included that line in your scripts. And it never took more than one bullet from you to kill someone. Even if the target was right in front of you or hundreds of meters away.

Yet you were skeptical.

The conditions here were... less than ideal. You were not given the specifics, and no numbers to work with. How far the target would be from your position, and how stable would that tree need to be? What exact tree were you supposed to climb on?

Not to mention the weather on this planet. It still hadn't stopped raining. The wind speed was also a disadvantage.

He was telling you to improvise. To use your judgment and make your own decisions. He knew how much you hated improvising.

Elio was putting too much faith into you.

You wished you could tell him that; if only the reception of the place was not so god awful. And that he was a total prick. It wouldn't be a surprise if one of you ended up sick from this mission.

Kafka becomes needy when she's sick. And you didn't want Blade to get sick, it could potentially mess up the calculations.

How bothersome. You would need to get used to going out on missions again. (And Blade, you added)

Then there was Stelle.

Your sweet little star. Was it too soon to call her that? But you were sure you had grown attached to that girl. At least that was what Elio said.

Attachment.

You were still not used to that 'feeling'. You weren't a child that had much to get attached to. No, you were a child who was ripped off all your attachments and could not afford to get attached to things.

That woman stripped you of that comfort. Or rather, she taught you it. Attachments were not good for those whose mission was to 'save as many lives as possible'.

She told you those words as you watched a little boy was wheeled away, Mara-strucked, withering in pain. You failed. It was the first patient that you failed.

It was a large hit to you. This was a year after that woman took you under her wing.

But he was unsaveable. That woman should have known. She should have been able to divine it. She was a diviner after all.

She should have known he was unsavable, she should know it more than you, being from the Xianzhou. The signs were there, too evident even for a child to overlook.

Yet she threw him to you. To teach you whatever was deemed necessary by her.

Or was it to see if your desperation would somehow make you manifest your power faster?

Either way, she achieved what she wanted.

Now you find it hard to get attached to something. Scared that one day they would leave take their last breath in front of you just like that boy.

Yet you grew attached to Stelle. And you hadn't even gotten to know her.

Your dearest creation. Something- no, someone that you consider your greatest achievement up to date. She was your pride, something that derived from your hard work.

A thing, no, a person you created out of thin air.

Everyone but Blade was curious. Wolfie asked about her out of courtesy. Kafka seemed disinterested in her when she saw her today. Yet she was the person who asked about Stelle the most out of everyone. (You wondered if this was her way to get you talking).

And there was Firefly. You told her about Stelle approximately an hour after the meeting.

You remembered how happy Firefly was. She was always happy and eager to hear about your creations, but she was extra excited this time around.

You described in detail how you achieved such a thing. Most of the jargons were ones she had heard before.

'It's a miracle!', she exclaimed. You agreed with her. And you two talked for an hour as you waited for her blood test that time.

That was almost a month ago. Her stat had dropped roughly 0.0392%.

You had learned a habit of not saying the stats to her. She seemed to also notice this fact. It was her body after all.

Poetic. That was how Kafka had always described it. A way to somehow alleviate the irony and pain of it all. The more you think, the sadder it gets.

And it somehow helped you drift into nothingness.

You felt like you were levitating, stripped of all worldly matters.

A trance state.

There were no thoughts to bother you, no emotions, nothing for you to worry about.

Like a log drifting in an endless ocean with no direction in sight. Not scared about the future, about relationships, about goals and responsibility. A world away from life and death.

An escape.

Nothing to worry about.

Until a bright light flashed into your eyes.

You felt awful.

Your brain hurted. Your heartbeat was thumping loudly in your ears. Even louder than when you used a stethoscope.

This was an awful way to wake up. Not to mention how bright it was. It was restricting you from opening your eyes.

“What the hell Kafka?” You groaned, sitting up to avoid the bright light. You heard your heart beat a little faster. The light was still oddly blinding.

You reached for your temples.

Yet your hand did not come into contact with anything. You raised your hand higher and even started to wave your fingers around to feel if something was there.

Nothing. Your hand seemed to faze through what you were sure was your head.

You panicked and opened your eyes. But the bright light was still there, blinding you. And even when you moved your hand to cover your eyes, it did not block anything. You had to settled with closing your eyelids again. Fuck.

You used your other hand to frantically pat around at the bed underneath you. What should had been there came out to be nothing as well. Yet you did not lose your balance. But you could not even twist or turn. Just then you noticed that you feel the humidity that was bothering you a few hours ago. It was complete sensory deprivation.

This surely was not a dream, right? You were wide awake! What was going on?

You couldn’t feel your surroundings or your own body, or open your eyes. Nor could you even deduce where you were. You felt your throat contracted, and your breathing quickened.

It was becoming harder to breathe.

You tried to calm down. You had been in a worse position before. Feeling hopeless almost ended you more than enough times by now. Kafka trained you so you would not repeat the same mistake. Come on remember... What did Kafka teach you to do if some of your senses were blocked?

To use your other senses. You tried and quickly realized 2 things.

Your quickening heartbeat was making rationality hard.

One, there was only one sound you had heard since you woke up: your heartbeat (which was spiraling out of control). Only that one sound. You couldn't hear any sound of rain or the AC blasting that would indicate you were still in your room.

Two, you didn’t smell anything no matter how hard you tried. And you tried, desperately. Nothing came back other than a rash in your nostril.

It felt like all your senses had been blocked off. Like you were trapped in an abyss and already drowned without even knowing. And now it was too late for you to even realize how this all came to be.

Where were you? You didn’t know. What was happening? You didn’t know. What should you do? You didn’t know. What were you even going to do? You weren’t sure.

You weren’t sure. You WerEn’t sUre. YoU WeREn’T SurE.

You wanted to cry. Left there with no answer, no comfort. You thrashed and pulled and reached and searched for anything, yet nothing respond, no surface for you to touch. And your efforts were met with nothing and you didn’t know if there was anyone by your side to drag you back from this.

You were alone and terrified.

Your breath quickened. You tried curling up into yourself the best you could, tried to remember how to do it when you were unable to feel anything. You were trying anything to stop the panic attack. How would you find some way to stop it if you couldn't do anything?

Then, a chuckle rippled out and the bright light was dimmed significantly.

You could now open your eyes. You could finally see where you were. To find some relief. But that wasn't the first of your concerns.

Because that didn’t sound like Kafka.

It was far from how she would normally laugh. Not sweet, nor was it charming. And how did you even hear that?

You weren’t safe. You were anything but safe.

Scared. But you still opened your eyes to try to make sense of the thing that emitted the laughter.

You still couldn’t breathe properly.

Your vision was blurry (was it because of the tears you couldn't even feel?). But whatever it was took up the entire space before you.

There was no color. Only black and white. You had unconsciously activated your ability.

Your eyes darted around, hoping that your vision would clear doing so.

A face. A face that was smiling wide. With a veil on top of its head. A strand of hair down the middle of its face.

Your heartbeat was so loud and quick that it felt like drums were playing into your ears..

Yaoshi was in front of you.

You were hyperventilating.

Yaoshi was in front of you, in space.

You were in pain.

You were resting on their palm, in space. You were in space.

You needed to breath.

“Hello there child.” Yaoshi had a big grin on their face. Their voice was loud and clear in your head. They were telepathically talking to you.

You were struggling.

“Long time no see! ForGive oNe for inTeRRuptIng yOUR SLEep. Oͦn̾eͤ dͩoͦeͤs̾ f̾oͦrͬg̾eͤtͭ tͭhͪaͣtͭ aͣ G̾aͣl̾aͣxͯy̾ cͨaͣn̾ b𞀓eͤ… s̾oͦ b𞀓rͬiͥg̾hͪtͭ..”

You were struggling. Mouth wide, curled up, trying to breathe.

"Ơ̷̴̪̪̝͈̥͈̆̀̚n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ m̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅt͖͖̠̬͛ s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞, i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟t͖͖̠̬͛ h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧn̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅ s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅi̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥc̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ w̡̻̻̣͚̒̀ͅḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅt͖͖̠̬͛ m̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧt͖͖̠̬͛!

Ļ͓͓̣̽͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧn̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅi̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥg̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥo͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥ-s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅt͖͖̠̬͛o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞p͔͔͚͉̬̋ͩ̾͗, s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅo͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ m̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡c̨̨̣̮̝̈́̔ͯ̀͂h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎t͖͖̠̬͛ o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞n̫̫̘̗͕̲̲̎ͥḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧl͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧm̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧm̰̰̹͚̙̂ͦ͗͠b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓ t͖͖̠̬͛o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ v̹̹̘̼̞̻͆ͩ̓ͪ͢i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟s̨̞̞̰͎͎̪̩͕̈́̀ͯ̍ͧͅi̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟t͖͖̠̬͛ y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́o͙͙̙̘̙ͤͫ͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡ !”

Yet you couldn’t even hear your own grasp.

They continued on and on with their innocent rant. Yet you could barely make out a word or two they were saying.

It was painful. Your heartbeat was racing out of control in your ears. And yet that was the only thing you could hear other than Yaoshi’s voice.

You felt like you were dying.

And your eyes closed.

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Yaoshi could stop that.

Their healing power could stop that. You would be able to breathe. Your heart would slow down. You wouldn’t have to hear the abnormal rate of your heartbeat. No more of that thumping noise in your ears.

The burning sensation would stop. The headache would stop. The crying would stop. The weak feeling would go away. The all-consuming fear would cease to exist. And you would not experience any more pain.

No more of this torture. You just needed to tell them the words and they would help you. A single 'help' had worked in the past, numerous times.

But you refused to even look up at them. Nor could you. The pain was so much that squirming around felt exhausting.

You had no more energy to move, to beg for help. Nothing came out of your mouth when you tried to scream.

It hurted. To not be able to do anything to stop it. So helpless that you couldn't even call out for help.

Fuck.

... ...

This fucking sucks.

... ... ...

“Relax child.” You heard Yaoshi say and you stopped.

You were able to breathe. Your heart was able to slow down. You did not hear the abnormal rate of your heart beating. The headache was gone. You were not experiencing any more pain. Your throat and nostrils no longer burn.

Then you drifted into nothingness.

Chapter Text

You felt like you were levitating, stripped of all worldly matters.

A trance state.

There were no thoughts to bother you, no emotions, nothing for you to worry about.

Like a log drifting in an endless ocean with no direction in sight. Not scared about the future, about relationships, about goals and responsibility. A world away from life and death.

An escape.

Nothing to worry about.

But there was something to worry about wasn’t there.

“Relax child.”

Those words. So familiar. You had heard those words before, many times. A phrase that exudes comfort and conveys the speaker’s concerns for the listener’s mental state.

A rare phrase few people use.

It was always said without alternate intentions. It was simple, short, straightforward even. Pure in its meaning. Like the upstream of a river. Or the cloud floating in the sky. Or a child’s genuine worries for their friends.

One would never need to think of all the layers potentially hidden behind those words. It was comforting.

And yet.

It was predictable.

You opened your eyes to a beautiful clear blue sky.

The sun was shining gently, filling you with a warmth that you had missed. The air smelt fresh, with hints of rain. No clouds though, just like before.

You felt something tickle your face. You looked to the side to see an endless sea of flowers, all vibrant and lively, yet no bug in sight.

You reached out to a blade of grass, feeling its texture in your hand. It felt familiar. You ripped it, knowing it would grow back, and looked back at the sky. You ripped the grass in half before reaching for more.

Your body felt weightless. You felt no worries, no stress–like all the burden of reality seemingly vanished into thin air. You were at peace with yourself, taking your time instead of rushing to do the tasks handed to you.

You could stay like this forever. Just looking at the sky, plucking blades of grass that would just grow back.

And yet, you sat up and looked around. The scenery could only be described as heavenly, as if it came out of the religious textbooks you had read before, a place with no pain or suffering.

Surrounding you was an abundant sea of flowers, fluttering slowly in the wind. Their petals were in full bloom, with a variety of colors. In the distance, you saw a river, flowing into the horizon. It was as if the place existed in an unending spring.

You reached down to touch a flower. It seemed to respond to your touch, its color brightened just ever so lightly. It was of a species that you recognized, one that grown in abundance back in your homeworld.

The place was beautiful. Breath-taking even. It was almost hard to peel your eyes away from the scenery and focus your thoughts.

Because you had been here before.

This sight was familiar. The way all of the flowers were of species you recognized. The way the grass grew back. The way the ones you had ripped and threw carelessly on the ground seemed to decompose immediately.

‘Paradise’–or whatever the Aeon called it – a blessing you received from being Their Emanator.

Everyone, even the Aeons, had their version of what ‘Paradise’ is, and this was y̯̤͑́́̓́ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚û̶͙̽̿͆̈r̶̷̲͍̭͐̾̀͟s̩͙͖̋͛͟.

A peaceful place with no one but you where you exist in a state of no pain, whether it be physical or mental. A place that was familiar to you with nothing new to learn. You could exist without having to worry, without feeling guilty for staying in bed for longer. You could sleep in and let the time fly by. You could walk around without a purpose. A place where you could do anything you wanted.

You looked down at your hands, they were steady–like you were going to do surgery. There was no lump in your throat, your breath was even, and your heart was beating at a steady rate.

Your body conveyed that you were in a state of absolute peace. And you were.

All that was left in you was a strange feeling of fulfillment and happiness, no stress, no despair, no one to bother you, nothing. This was everything younger you could ask for, right? A blessing no one would refuse.

A Paradise that one would never want to leave.

You hated this.

A place that overrode your previous emotions with empty feelings of happiness and peace was the last place you wanted to be in.

You did not belong here. You no longer agree with the ideology of this 'Paradise'. And you shouldn't have been taken away without your full consent. More importantly, you did not understand why the Aeon did this.

You stopped.

You looked down at your hands. Ruined, ripped flowers and grass in your hand. Yet the moment you dropped what remained from your on-slaught, they just disintegrated into the ground. And you were still sitting there, amidst a sea of flowers, with nothing to show for your fury.

It felt pointless. You felt like everything was pointless. You had no choice in this matter.

To defy someone or something far above you in authority. Their decision-making process hardly ever included your input, even if you were involved. What was the point, when your protests and struggles were ignored by all?

Your parents, that woman, Yaoshi, Elio, …

Yet you were always ‘compensated’. The gifts from your parents, which was expensive and apologetic. The knowledge you learned from that woman- your teacher- got you where you are today. The blessings of the Abundance. The things Elio promised and provided you.

So, what was the point of defying reality even, when you were always the one to follow?

"Doctor."

And then you recalled.

The worries before bed, the panic attacks, the pain, the helplessness, the agony, the fear you felt. There was no roundabout way to deal with what you experienced. It was traumatizing.

And yet, those feelings were gone. No, they were simply over-written. You knew this for a fact. Because younger you had always sought this place whenever your emotion was too much for you to handle. But simply writing over the scars doesn’t mean it all has healed.

You had started to accept reality. You had no longer tried to escape. You were no longer alone. You now had people you cared about that could and chose to be by your side. You no longer needed to shove everything down the drain just to get through another day.

You had places to be, tasks to get done, people to go back to.

This idea of Paradise seemed almost foreign to you.  The so-called ‘Paradise’ you were in did not feel like what you would want. To even call this your ideal ‘Paradise’ seemed like a betrayal of your own principles.

"Doctor. Open the door."

“You’re frowning, child.”

You looked up, and there Yaoshi was, smiling down at you. They tilted their head before picking you up into the palm of their hand with little protest on your side.

You were like a pea in their hand, small, tiny, fragile. Mortal.

“One must apologize for not accounting for how bright a Galaxy is. By the time one noticed, you were already squirming in discomfort." Yaoshi squinted their eyes, trying to imitate the apologetic look you used to do.

"But let's move past that now, shall we? Now that you're safe and comfortable. You have changed a lot since last time. Did your preference of Paradise change? If so, feel free to tell one, you are my Emanator, a precious child who one adores, so please speak your mind.” Yaoshi continued, reaching out to rub the pad of one of their thumbs against your face. It was smooth and inhuman.

They were inspecting you. Physical appearance can reveal many things about one’s mental health. They, the Abundance, knew the signs of suffering better than most if not all beings in the Universe.

You felt a familiar surge of power enveloping you, one similar to your own yet so much more potent and powerful. It was comforting, like a lullaby sung by those you loved. You didn’t pull away-you were not afraid- but you didn’t lean into them either.

Comfort was for another time.

"Doctor. Open the door this instant."

After they had finished their ‘inspection’, they moved their hand away, yet their gaze remained. Intense yet forgiving, true to their nature.

You looked up at them. You were nothing compared to them. Small, insignificant, weak, fragile, just a simple human blessed by them.

Yet you were Their Emanator. You had never met any other Emanator of Yaoshi, but you felt like you could never compare to them. So what rights did you have to even question the Aeon? But you needed to. Paradise was not what you seek at the moment. You were needed somewhere else.

“Where’s my body?” You asked.

You could travel to this place freely, as long as your body was in a safe place (you didn't know if it was a requirement or not). It meant you could also leave this place whenever you wanted, whether Yaoshi permitted or not. The main problem was whether your body was where it should be.

Yaoshi smiled before humming dismissively.

“You truly have nothing to say to one, child?” They asked, waving their hand as if signaling something. A small branch on the tree they were sitting on grew towards you, with it a cup of tea.

“One thought that after all the last time one went to see you, you would love to have a conversation with one. You are always full of stories whenever one visits you.”

They looked at the cup of tea and then back to you, waiting for your acknowledgment.

“Or will a cup of tea help you open up?”

You received the cup and held it between your two hands, taping the side with your fingers. It smelt nothing like the tea you had had before, decorated by a herb you had never seen before, either.

“The herb is called mint, it's quite refreshing if what one’s heard is right.” Yaoshi summoned the herb next to you, trying to pique your interest.

You neither touch the drink or the herb, more keen on staring at them.

“I'm sorry but I need to return.” You stated blankly, hoping they would understand.

They apparently did not.

“Return?” They asked. “Why? You don't look happy with whatever is clearly happening. Do you even see what state your body is in? You're uncomfortable, stressed, and clearly tired and yet you want to return, why?”

They asked and yet, you couldn't answer. Because it was pointless to. Yaoshi will never deviate from the path of Abundance. They saw how your body reacted normally to the condition around you as suffering.

They saw anything that did not truly follow their path as suffering. Humans, plants, animals, and other species all will come to Death. But Yaoshi will never comprehend that. Nor would they comprehend that you were just mildly discomforted.

You tried to explain to them before. And you failed. And you stopped after the 10th time.

You continued to tap on the teacup.

“I simply need to return.”

They looked... confused at your answer. They frowned.

“Child. You need to return? Is this ‘Intelligentsia Guild’ that incompetent that you need to return immediately? Last time you told one that working at that place was tedious. This is very out of character of you.”

Intelligentsia Guild? That was…more than 3 years ago. Right, you never told her you became a Stellaron Hunter. Or rather, you had asked that Elio made sure Yaoshi would never stumble across you as long as you were in the HQ as proof of his power. And they never did in the years you had been a Stellaron Hunter.

“I’m not working for the Intelligentsia Guild anymore.” You stated. "Please, I need to return--"

“Then surely whoever you are working for is not treating you well. One found you all spent and exhausted! Why would you want to be in that state, child?"

At that, Yaoshi stopped. They looked at you, waiting for your answer. They did not understand you (it would be crazy if they did).

"Listen:--"

"I simply need to return." You repeated. "And I'll also forgive you if you tell me where my body is."

You were looking up at them, hoping they would grant you your request. Because they would never understand. Because the most you could do was request something from them.

Yaoshi sighed--a gesture they copied you-- before reaching a finger to your face, again. Rubbing it.

"Alright then, child. Your body is right where it was." They said and you felt relieved.

"Thank you." Just as you were going to bid a farewell out of courtesy and go back, they continued.

"But the two others being in the building with you are in quite an amount of distress right now."

"And see you later--"

You did not get to question them before 'Paradise' dissipated.

"Listen: Wake–"

You opened your eyes.

You were sweating, the air was humid and Kafka was on top of you. Kafka was on top of you—

"Aeons, you're awake." She said, getting off the bed and half dragging you along with her.

You were surprised at how urgent she seemed to be. "Did I oversleep? What time is it? Have Blade even arrived—"

“Blade’s hurt. Badly.”

It took a second for her words to register in your brain, and by the time it did, she was already off the bed, with you scrambling to do the same.

But before you could, you smelt something iron in the air. Blood.

You darted your eyes around and there Blade was, standing behind Kafka, kissing the top of her head. His eyes were staring at her, and you were sure he would be blushing if it wasn't for how pale he was. But then, his eyes darted to you.

Just then did you realize just how close your bed was to the door.

Chapter Text

He kissed the top of Kafka's head, staining it with blood.

There was a red streak of blood across his face like he had wiped his hand on it. Both of his hands wrapped around her waist, leaning onto her as to not collapse.

His eyes seemed to dilate as they fixated on the top of her head. He was breathing heavily, inhaling her scent like a mad man.

A thick smell of blood invaded your senses. Like a flood flowing down a barren mountain, Blade’s presence overwhelmed you completely, forcing you to focus on him. Such a condensed manifestation of the Abundance.

You waited for his laugh. For the Mara to turn him into something else, make him do things he would never do. To see bloodshed from his sword, from his own hands.

You waited for Kafka to calm him down. Hoping she could reach him before he did something to her. With their close proximity, you feared the Mara’s influence would outspeed hers. A part of you were even ready to have to heal both of them at the same time.

Yet what came was not a display of violence, nor the sound of absolute control.

His eyes darted to you, his pupil still dilated, fixating on your shaken form.

His gaze was dangerously unnerving. Dark, murky, murderous.

It felt like it was taking everything in him not to swallow you whole.

It was like you were in front of a black hole, just one moment ago you were admiring its beauty and magnitude, just for it to effortlessly pull you in with its gravity, leaving you no room to escape.

It was suffocating.

You felt cold sweat run down your body. Your actions halted, your limbs feeling like they had given up on you. 

You were scared.

Of him.

Of what would happen if what he was capable of was directed at you.

But what you feared never came.

Blade slumped against Kafka, almost pulling her down with his body weight. Before you could process what just happened, you had already shouted for Kafka to get him on the bed.

This was not in your script. This was not in both of your scripts.

You scrambled to get on your knee, despite still trembling, as Kafka moved him to the bed, holding him up from the front. Blade had a huge wound on his back. Kafka knew about his injuries.

You ignored the thought (and the fear) and turned your Imaginary sight on.

Everything became monochromatic, your senses heightened as you focused on the silhouette of his body. Blade’s body was outlined in light green. His injuries shined bright red, raw, and crawling to stitch back together, with a mix of black and red surrounding it.

The Mara was surging out of control.

He had 3 major injuries. All ripped apart, you guessed from teleporting.

One huge slash on his back that went from his right shoulder down to his lower back, his spine poking out of the wound.

His right hand was halfway from getting severed, the bone chipped, muscles and tendons barely hanging on as they tried to reconnect.

And another slash on the right side of his stomach, just under his ribcage.

There were other small wounds all over his body, most seemed to aim at disarming him. The estimated amount of blood lost you calculated from all those wounds was fatal to a normal mortal in less than a few minutes.

And the mara inside him surged hungrily, crawling and invading his body like roots sprouting to find water, to keep surviving. It was like it wanted to find whatever amount of Abundance’s blessing and shoved them at his wounds. And you could almost see their screams, the way it clouded his mind to urge him to do something. Anything

It was time to think and act fast.

"When did he arrive here?" You asked, searching frantically for your ring.

"Approximately 7 minutes ago." Kafka said, still trying to find a position where you could easily get access to his wounds.

You grinded your teeth.

All the Mara wanted was to keep him alive, free from pain and death, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. Even if the cost was his mind and sanity. Even if it meant he no longer was human. The true meaning of Abundance-to make sure that suffering is eradicated by any means necessary. And the longer he took to heal, the more active and uncontrollable the Mara became.

That was the reason he needed you as much as he needed Kafka. To spend up the process, to show the Mara that he would, in fact, continue to survive.

"Kafka." You said, finally found your ring and put it on as Kafka started using her Spirit Whisper.

“Listen: A-Ren…”

You tuned out her voice. Her whisper of reassurance was not yours to hear.

You hovered your hands over his back wound and poured your power into it. Your elemental signature spreaded, entering his body and encouraging growth and repair. To stop his suffering.

The torn-up flesh started to seal, slowly. They reached for each other, trying to get back to the form it was before, slowly.

Too slow. He was healing way slower than usual.

Even slower than before you started your experiment. It did not make sense.

It did not make sense

You watched as your power and the Abundance’s blessing seemingly do nothing to help his healing process.

Your brain was screaming at you that something was wrong. You counted the second, like how doctors would test for blood pressure. You knew his usual rate, and how fast he usually healed when put under different rates of critical. You memorized it even, having gone over it too many times to count.

And yet, the number was baffling. It barely reached a fourth of his usual rate.

He was healing too fucking slow.

You poured more power into him, tapping into the reserve in the gemstone on your ring. And yet, it was still slow.

You were panicking. Why was your power not working? Why was the Abundance’s blessing inside of him not doing anything it was supposed to?

The Mara was being contained by Kafka, but you could see how it panicked along with you. The way it screamed at the agonizing feeling.

'He's dying. Why is he dying? Why is he not healing? Why is he not waking up?—

Something was wrong, but what?

You darted your eyes around, trying to find the problem before something caught your attention. The signature color of Abundance did not focus on his major wounds. It seemed to focus elsewhere, all flowing rapidly towards his left hand.

No, it was not only the Abundance inside him flowing to it, everything you poured into him was also being sucked away.

Something in his left hand was drawing all of the Abundance’s power to it.

Something round, shining green in color, a dull green that you were familiar with. Its glow was similar to the jade gemstone on your ring.

“Kafka, his left hand!” You practically screamed. She glanced at Blade's left hand before mouthing something.

His left hand seemed to clutch the stone tighter, refusing to release it.

But soon enough, his hand unclenched and you reached over and slapped it across the room. If it was from the same material as the stone in your ring, it should be fine even if you did that(hopefully).

Right away, the flow of Abundance turned its focus on his 3 major wounds. And you observed. You counted. You calculated. You almost prayed. His normal rate of healing returned.

You watched as he healed. The white bone pieces sometimes damage his muscle further to glue it back to its original place. His flesh and muscles contorted weirdly, as it created new tissue and discarded the old ones.

You guided your power so the flesh would reattach correctly (It sometimes wouldn’t).

And when his last wound closed, you scanned him one last time.

The flow of his elemental power seemed to be starting to settle down. The Mara flooding his brain thinned, literally. Your power was flowing through him smoothly, trying to ease his pain.

No internal wounds, all small injuries gone, the major ones healed.

He was done healing.

“Ha… ha…” You exclaimed, falling back on the bed, now feeling how his blood slowly soaked into your clothes. Great, now even your pants were wet with it.

You closed your eyes and turned off your Imaginary sight. Colors returned to you. Your senses were hyper-aware of everything around you.

You looked down at your form. Your hands were covered in blood from healing him. The front of your shirt did not escape its fate either. The worst was your legs, drenched and still on top of a pool of warm blood.

You were exhausted. Your head was tingling from using your power. Your eyes ached. Your clothes–once drenched in sweat from ‘meeting’ Yaoshi now half-soaked with your coworker's blood.

It felt like everything was making you overwhelmed.

You sat there for a second, breathing, trying to ignore how the smell of blood almost engulfed you.

By the time you reopened your eyes and looked at your coworkers, Blade had slumped completely onto Kafka.

He was growling in pain despite being unconscious.

Kafka sat there, hugging him, one hand massaging the back of his head. She was whispering something to him, her eyes closed as she breathed slowly. It was intimate.

It made you feel like you were intruding on their private moment.

You figured you could leave Blade with Kafka and started getting off the bed. The mission was in a few hours and it would be best if Blade recovered properly before it. And you and Kafka (Blade too) would need to change out of your blood-soaked clothes.

But before you could start planning how to help him (besides just sitting there pouring your power into him in blood-soaked clothes), Kafka called out to you.

“Where are you going?” She asked, her voice quieter than usual.

You halted and turned to look at her. Her eyes did not have their usual confident glint that made you trust that she could handle everything. She looked like she wanted you to stay.

And you started to doubt your earlier judgment.

“Blade would need a lot of iron-rich food and water. I'm going to fetch them.” You explained, almost robot-like, before remembering you were in fact not in your office.

“Uhm… actually I think…” You paused. “... We should move him to another room. And I’ll... help you with that.”

Kafka smiled—yet the corner of her mouth never reached its usual height, was it your imagination or was it the atmosphere? — and said in a quiet voice “I can handle him, don't worry. Thanks anyway, [Name].” 

You did not remember how you ended up in Kafka’s room with a tray of a bowl of broth and water.

You figured you must have been mindlessly doing things before this moment.

You had not changed out of your blood-soaked clothes, vaguely remembering how the sensation was agonizing at first, but you pushed any thought of discomfort away.

Your hands were cleaned (you would not start cooking when your hands were still covered in blood, you hope), but you could guess how disheveled you must be looking at the moment.

Kafka’s temporary room looked similar to yours, boring and with minimum furniture. The bathroom was being used, and the sound of the shower being on could be heard.

You headed straight to the bed, where Blade was now lying. He had been changed to a white shirt, but the smell of blood still lingered on him.

You placed the tray down on the nightstand before turning back on your Imaginary sight. You scanned him up and down, taking note of the Mara and Blade’s mysterious Abundance blessing. You noticed the trace of another Emanator on him the first day he came to the HQ, but you never succeeded in prying any information from him or Elio.

He was not an Emanator of Abundance, that fact you knew well.

The Abundance’s blessing seemed well… more abundant, compared to when you were giving him a check-up, you wondered if it correlated to him being injured or if the medicine was doing its job. The Mara was dormant, but it seemed to react ‘positively’ to the increase in Abundance’s blessing. In fact, it almost seemed happy that you were near. It always did, when you feed it your power.

You turned off your Imaginary sight, deeming him stable enough.

He did not have the most pleasant expression on his face. He was less pale, at least compared to before. He was always pale and had a deadpan face, but right now, he just looked tired, ridiculously so.

You silently observed him for a minute before leaning down to check his temperature, brushing his bangs away, and facing your hand on his forehead. He was cold. Uncomfortably cold, like a corpse left in the morgue freezer (you would know).

The result of blood loss, you noted. The broth you had bought would help with that, but you never guessed you would need to actually use it. But at this rate, you would need to reheat it if he does not wake up soon.

But as you considered whether to go reheat the broth or not, sharp pain on your wrist stop you from moving. Blade’s left hand had gripped onto your wrist, his facial features changing to reflect his new state of conscious. He was waking up.

“Blade?” You asked, waiting for him to recognize you. “Do you need water?”

“Where’s…” His voice was hoarse as he struggled to open his eyes. “... the thing that was in my hand?” He mumbled before coughing.

“The thing that was—” You suddenly remembered the jade you had slapped across the room. The state of the gemstone was unknown, but you doubt it would disappear.

“The jade right? It’s fine, don’t worry about it right now.” You lied, not actually knowing it's fate, to reassure him.

He seemed to have believed your words anyway.

“Here, let’s get you some water.”

You helped him sit up and passed him a glass of water. Blade’s grip around the glass was weak, his fingers blue, not yet returning to their normal state. He was staring at it as his finger tightened around the glass.

It seemed like his limbs’ functions were returning normally. He finished the drink and you took it away from him.

“Here, have some broth, it helps with blood loss.” You said, reaching over to get the bowl. “If you can’t eat in this state, I’ll help.”

He seemed it ponder your suggestion, moving his fingers to test if he could eat in this state. Then he just barely outstretched his hand towards you, signaling to just give him the bowl. You did and watched him slowly eat it.

You had questions you wanted to ask him, but Blade seemed too tired to answer you and ate at the same time, so you decided that the questions could be delayed further. Your experiment was not in any way urgent after all.

Blade scooped some of the broth onto the spoon before carefully bringing it to his mouth. He seemed to dislike the taste of it.

You watched him eat, evaluating how well his motor function was. Muscle weakness, lowered motor control, ... But he seemed to be taking his time with his second bite.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered. “For… gripping your hand earlier.”

You blinked at him before looking down at your hand. The bruise was already healing.

“I had patients who gripped my hand far harder before, don’t worry... Just continue eating.”

Blade slightly nodded.

Then the door to the bathroom opened and Kafka came out while talking on her phone. She did not look pleased

“You’re telling me that you will have someone come and clean up? We still need this safe house? What for— I’ll talk to you later, Elio.”

She darted her eyes to you.

“Doctor, go take a shower and change your clothes, I already hang up new ones in the bathroom. Yours of course. There’s soap and shampoo in there too, in case you need them.” She smiled, her usual demeanor had returned. “I figured that you would forget to change your clothes from how mindlessly you were going around and doing things.”

You did not think she would notice. (Or was it you who did not realise.)

So you beelined for the bathroom as quickly as you could.

Kafka looked amused when you practically ran to the bathroom. Then, her eyes were on him again, smiling softly as she sat down on the bed. Her hand reached out to caress his face, brushing his cheek tenderly.

“How are you feeling?” Her voice switched up, soft, worrying, yet grateful all the same.

He stared at her. She had put her contacts in. Her eyes were no longer magenta but pale pink. A mask.

He watched for any micro changes in her expression, in the ways she spoke. She was smiling just like normal, that charming smile of hers that he was too familiar with. But the corner of her mouth did not reach its usual height.

He wondered if she would ever get tired of seeing him like this.

He wanted to ask, but he simply nodded.

Kafka looked at his face, observing him before looking down at the bowl on his lap.

“I’ll help you if you need, A-Ren.”

There was that name again. The name he heard while he was delirious, spilled so delicately from her lips. Between the Mara’s haunting words and the pain of his injuries, that name and her voice brought him back from the depth of his mind.

She only called him that when they were alone, whispered between kisses or to comfort in the dead of night.

That name came out despite whatever state he was in, only when she deemed it was necessary. And right now, at this moment, he feared he needed to hear that name more than he would ever admit.

So, he handed her the bowl and watched her as she patiently fed him.

“Do you want me to talk?” She asked, and he nodded. His memories were hazy, and he could not focus on a single thought.

“Elio told me we would need this safe house for another purpose. He did not tell me why though, just told me to continue on with the mission. And ...” She said, pausing, thinking. “...I did not get the chance to ask him about… how you got here with those injuries.”

He swallowed another spoonful, noticing her pace faltered.

“So, will you kindly tell me how and who?” She said and stopped feeding him.

He shook his head. “Elio told me it’s better to not tell you. And…”

She was not pleased with that answer, he could tell.

He stayed silent, not because he was going to reveal something he should not, but more because he was trying to piece together what Elio had said to him. His mind was still cloudy, the Mara obstructing his ability to remember clearly.

“He said… the Doctor would probably figure it out.” Blade finally answered.

“Hah…” She exclaimed, standing up to put the bowl on the nightstand. “Our treasure will figure it out?”

She looked speechless.

He wished he knew what she was thinking or what he should say. He never really knows what she really thinks. He could guess just like he always did, trying to understand her thoughts and actions. But his guesses hardly ever got confirmation anyway. Because he never voiced them.

So he simply did what he could think of.

“Kafka.” He said, reaching for her hand and placing it on his cheek.

She looked back at him, smiling, ever so sadly (He could only alleviate her sadness, but he never truly knew what it stemmed from). She leaned down to press a kiss on his forehead and he closed his eyes.

The place smelled of rain and blood, but in between that, it was the smell of her, so ever-present around him. For a moment, even a second, he forgot that they had a mission, that they had a script to follow, that he would need to get better, and that he should prepare for whatever was coming.

T҉̘͙͖̠̓ͦ͑̄͜͜͟͞h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡ h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞ w҉̢̡̹̮͌̄ͦ͜͟͟͞͠͞i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝ c̷̶҉̵̢͚̣̻̲̬͑̑͛͐̀͜͜͜͝͡͝͠o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝n̸͐̈́͟͟͝t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠n̸͐̈́͟͟͝u̶͖̖͆̊̈́͡͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞ t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝ l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠v҉̨̊͢͠͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞ a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡n̸͐̈́͟͟͝o҉̢̡̲͇̌͗̀͢͝t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡h̷̶̘̘̬ͭ̏͞͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠ d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡ȳ̸̵̩̜͔͍̔́͟͟͢͡.

The feeling of her lips on his forehead, the way her hands caressed his face ever so tenderly. It was not how one should treat a weapon. But once again, just this once, he indulged her(and his own human desire) again. For her sake.

Then they heard the creaking of the door being opened before hearing it being closed again.

Kafka chuckled above him.

“You should get washed,” Kafka said and he opened his eyes, looking up at her. “so our treasure wouldn’t need to hide in the bathroom.”

You did not like looking in the mirror.

Most of the time? You barely mind your appearance—never bothering to put much effort into it. But you dreaded looking in the mirror after a long day of arduous work (of having to deal with patients when you were younger).

The way your hair was always a mess, the way the stress got to you, the way you tried to remain as presentable as possible throughout the day even when your clothes became drenched with whatever things managed to get on it.

To be perceived as trustworthy, that woman said.

And now you looked exactly the same as you did before, just older.

Hair messy, sweating, frowning, clothes drenched in blood. Even the way your jaw was tensed.

In the background, you could see your clothes that Kafka probably hung up. All clean and neat, unlike the state you were in.

You got rid of your clothes, feeling the way the dry blood flaked under your fingertips. You got in the shower, feeling the hot water pouring down on you. You frowned before turning to the cold setting.

The warmth disappeared quickly, and the cold water seemed to knock back your senses into you.

How uncomfortable you were.

Yaoshi's blessing should have kept you in a tranquil state, it always did, at least until a week after. But here you were, felt ripped of your power. You would need to assess just how much that gemstone had sucked out of you (and Blade).

Even yours did not do this when you first received it.

And then more and more questions ran through your mind. What you needed to ask Blade, why would Blade have a jade that seemed so similar to yours. Why did Yaoshi show up? What was happening?

But there was one question that stood out.

‘Why did Elio not mention anything in yours or Kafka’s script?’

It made sense that it was not in Kafka's script, Elio trusted that she could handle many things without a detailed script. Kafka could have just used her ‘Spirit Whisper’ on Blade to tame the Mara and Blade would heal on his own, even if relatively slow compared to when you're around.

Maybe it was only in Blade’s script. But you knew with Elio, the fact you and Kafka would be with him meant it was unnecessary to script it in.

You cursed Elio for his redundant scripts. Not everyone was Kafka. He always provided you with more instructive ones, even the one you had this time was way longer compared to Kafka's. But why didn't he mention Blade being injured in your script?

Maybe he trusted you and Kafka would take care of Blade.

You two would, but you cursed him anyway. He knew how much you hate when unexpected things happen.

Maybe it was some sort of training for you. To have you deal with situations where time was a limited factor. You were not in the comfort of the HQ (or that classroom) and would continue to be for however long Elio deemed necessary. Or to make you more used to Blade and the Mara. You would need to get used to it like Kafka did since you would mainly go on missions with him.

Sometimes you hear Firefly admire how well they worked together. That they are in sync. Snatching Stellarons, fighting enemies, following the script,... They had worked together for 2 and a half years after all.

You never really got to see them ‘working’ together. Elio never assigned you on a mission with both of them. But you had seen them around each other besides work.

Kafka had always attended Blade's check-up, always keeping him clean, always helping you nag him about changing his bandages. She was usually the one who updated his breakfast request list, the one who calmed him down, keeping him sane.

And Blade was always there, right beside her, making her tea and fruit bowls. Her shadow and weapon. Always ended up bloodied from shielding her(in Kafka's words).

And yet, you were the last one to notice they were dating. (You were teased endlessly for this by specifically Elio).

Yet you never understand how Kafka deals with… all of it. She looked like she had seen that side of him too many times, seen him reduced to nothing more than a corpse before he slowly returned back to her side. To witness him sacrifice himself so recklessly and just to get up and do it again.

You would be exhausted if you saw a lover like that too many times.

As your thoughts ran, you had already finished showering and changing into more comfortable clothes.

Looking in the mirror, you were back to your usual self: trustworthy and efficient.

'Presentable', as that woman used to comment.

You sighed before opening the door, and when you noticed the scene before you, you tried your hardest to close it as discreetly as possible. Which failed, as the door creaked loudly.

You held onto the door handle, dreading what just happened. But before you could come up with a sensible plan, the door knob turned and there Blade was, staring down at you. And you got out of the bathroom as quickly as you had entered it.

Chapter Text

'Go to ---------, 4 system hours away. Western Continent. Small town, a prepared safehouse in the south. 1:48:09 system time: Go to an abandoned building on a hill northwest of the center. Coordinate: ... Ask the local if a compass and technological devices are unusable. Wait till 1:53 system time. Hide on a tree with a clear sight of a large window that curved around a side of the building. 2:05:23 system time: Shot the man through the glass window even if Kafka and Blade haven't reached the room. He wears a fedora. One bullet is enough.

— Wanted Order by Destiny's Slave.

[1:52 am system time, Unknown planet.]

You were alone.

You had split up with Blade and Kafka roughly a minute or two ago. You gave them the extra raincoats you had brought, which luckily were all Universal ones (they were somehow still a little small for Blade).

They headed for the main entrance, placed central of the path leading to the building, while you turned for the forest.

The rain was pouring. You could not see more than 10 meters ahead of you. The leaves above you shielded you from the worst of the downpour, but the cold that came with humidity and wind was biting at your bones.

You wished you had any other routes than this. 'Hide on a tree'??? Damn you Elio.

The building in this mission was an old community center with a forest next to it. It got shut down after the rain, which had become a daily occurrence half a year back, for fear of landslides. Its courtyard, once full of activities and people, now lay barren with only patrolling guards and vehicles.

It was impossible to sneak through it, so treading through the forest was your only option.

The rain remained heavy. The wind's howl seemed to only get louder and louder in your ears. The sound of tree branches and leaves rustling violently made for an eerie atmosphere.

You turned on your Imaginary Sight to bypass the low visibility. It allowed you to perceive the world more easily, reducing everything to silhouettes and energy. You could see the vitality of the vegetation all around you and some hints of the guards hidden around the edge of the forest.

The plants were dying. Weak and suffering from the poor soil caused by the rain. The color of Abundance muddied and dull, a mix of red and green that slowly mixed into brown. The plants were dying.

You pushed those thoughts away as you waited until it hit the time written on the script. It was better to sit with that dreadful uncertainty than try to move outside of the script. There was always a reason why things were specifically mentioned. Always. All of you know it well.

[1:53 am system time, Unknown planet.]

'Hide on a tree with a clear sight of a large window that curved around a side of the building.'

The time was announced in your earpiece just as the stress level of nearby guards spiked.

That was when you moved.

Silent as you possibly can, you moved through the area, watching as panic arose among those hidden guards you could see. Snipers. Lying in their hiding spot with riffles, spread sparsely across the border of the forest, ready to ambush any who trespassed. Bullet works even in the rain after all.

Avoid them. Do not draw them to your position. Trust in Destiny’s Slave.

You thought about your options. Going deeper into the forest was not a wise idea. Visibility was too low for you to accurately find the spot without a constant view of the building, even with Imaginary Sight on.

The script did not state where the designated spot was, just a description of the view it provided. You had no choice but to keep to the edge of the forest while staying hidden from the snipers and the guards stationed in the courtyard.

But any closer would risk blowing your cover. You had already started to lose sight of the building, yet close enough to the nearest sniper to get found.

A distraction. You needed a distraction.

Just then, your earpiece rang to life. “Entered the building.” Kafka’s voice emitted into your ears, accompanied by numerous screams and yelling. It seemed it was going better on their end.

“Copy.” You replied, eyeing as more of the hidden guards moved from their spots to head towards the main building. The person in charge clearly was not a logical person.

But it allowed you more leverage, and you immediately traverse closer, searching for the window mentioned in the script. It soon came into view. Third floor, curved, opposite the entrance that your coworkers entered from.

You—the sniper in this case—now needed to find where the ‘tree’ that would serve as the vantage point was.

[1:55 am system time, Unknown planet.]

The rainwater was making your eyes agitated, but you focused your power on them, trying to blink as little as possible.

You needed to observe and work out the exact location Elio had in his vision. You now knew where the target was, just not where you had to be.

You stopped and laid down low, observing. It was impossible to calculate the distance between the window and the edge of the forest, but with most of the guards gone, you could focus on finding what Elio wanted.

'...a clear sight of a large window that curved around a side of the building.'

You cursed Destiny's Slave for his never-mentioning-specific-detail habit. Time and coordinate? Yes. Anything else? Depending on your luck and his mood.

‘Clear sight’? How were you supposed to know for certain what he had seen in his vision?!

The earpiece announced the time, and anxiety crept its way back into your system.

So you went with your gut and followed your training. Clear sight means no obstacle between your bullet and the target. So as close as you can get away with.

You edged closer and closer to the edge of the forest, watching the few guards still outside for any signs of alert.

Three stationed right under the window seemed to tirelessly scan the place, patrolling closely. Two others surveyed closer to the forest. You could not shoot those two, the splashes of their body hitting the ground would alert the other three.

But moving too near would compromise your position. They had night vision goggles, you concluded. Dry eyes from little blinking. Anytime some leaves flew into the courtyard, they flinched. They were looking, just not knowing where to look.

Even if they had not spotted you, you would need to move closer and risk them spotting you. You were at a disadvantage. The chance of them injuring you before you incapacitated them was too high to risk it.

But what little option did you have?

You took out your gun and loaded it up, ready to take them out before noticing something. Small indicators from their energies, you could rationalize what it meant.

They were anxious, the way an amateur was anxious, you realized. They searched endlessly, yet the grip on their weapon seemed to falter every so often, and they fidgeted often. Highly alert yet indecisive.

Not trained. At least not trained how to ‘fight’. Mercenaries. Cheaply hired. And yelling into what you could assume to be a communication device right now.

Low morale. They would likely break before they could even spot you.

[1:59 am system time, Unknown planet.]

They abandoned their post.

Three of the five had already left, not for the building but for the village, crushing their own earpieces.

You moved closer to the edge of the forest, knowing even if you got spotted, they could not get to you.

The other two hesitatingly looked around and locked eyes with you. They nudged each other, their grips on their guns slipping before they made a run for it and fled.

There were no more guards in the courtyard.

You did not know what chaos your coworkers were causing, but you were now free from watchful eyes.

It did not take you long to find a good vantage point. You climbed the tree. It had clear sight of the target, and steady footing (the Abundance in this tree was better than most).

This was it. You pulled out your sniper, aimed, and waited.

[2:04 am system time, Unknown planet.]

1 minutes.

The earpiece told you the time and your finger on the trigger barely tightened, encasing it with Imaginary. You had loaded your gun with 5 rounds—more than one bullet. You only needed one, as per the script, but habits remained habits.

Turn it off. Your brain screamed at you, the headache coming alongside using your ability was close to being unbearable. But you ignored it, your power would deal with it anyway. The Abundance hated pain and suffering, after all.

So you focused on your target. His silhouette was easy to identify. The only one sitting, wearing a fedora, yelling orders, and being on a call. His vitality was worse than others, older, had a stressful office job, not physically active. His heart was not dealing well with how anxious he was getting.

Surrounding him were around 20 guards. Better physics than those you encountered outside, the way they held their weapon, their stances, the total focus... Professionally trained.

But your eyes caught something particular. Some kind of... device embedded into their body. The same model, across at least a dozen of them, placed in the same place. What were those...

Just then, the door was forced open as the guards rushed at it. Two presences you were well familiar with. Reddish purple and light green with gold threads...

The bossman reached to press something—

2:05 am.

Your earpiece announced the time and you pulled the trigger.

Bang

Rain. A drop, then two, then 3, then a thousand. Like the notes of Raindrop Prelude.

“The rain makes for a perfect melody, doesn’t it?” She commented as they made their entrance.

To her, it was. The rain brought with it a desire to dance. A dance they needed not rehearse, one they had done before, even if not accompanied by the rain.

'Listen: Let them witness a beautiful dance that they will never see again. "

1-2-3.

Waltz's basic box step pattern uses three counts.

She led, starting the performance, and he followed. She moved graciously, enchanting everyone, while he took the liberty to enhance his performance, making an array of black, gold, and red.

The audience around them made sounds of clapping, wide eyes with their mouth agape. Was it out of surprise? Or mesmerization? Or perhaps they were simply enchanted.

A rain of red rose petals fell around them, decorating their performance as they stride through the hall. A few got onto their clothes, but they didn't stop in their tracks, twirling and dancing to the amazement of their audience.

The song got louder and faster, many ran to join the crowd, and the clapping only increased.

A beautiful performance–one that had been performed on different stages, for various crowds, one that was practiced to perfection— tends to draw a lot of attention after all.

She smiled. Attention was good. It would be best if all the attention was drawn to both of them. So it was far away from their treasure.

She sometimes glanced at her partner, watching his facial expression. She could always tell when he perceived something out of the ordinary, something new, something odd. After all, she did not feel fear and, in turn, lacked the ability to sense danger.

But there was none, so she continued to sway her body, being in sync with his.

The more they danced, the more intensified everything got. The melody of rain was mixed with screams, the clapping was the clashing of weapons, and the rose petals were blood.

Spectacles that she was fond of. Such relaxing sounds and scenery.

4-5.

2:04 am

The announcement rang in her ears as they reached a large door leading into an office.

The rain hadn’t stopped.

The clapping cut short, and the crowd was no more. But they weren’t done, because there were still some remaining audiences that had not seen their performance.

They opened the door, ready to greet the ‘high-profile’ guests.

The audience rudely ran straight to them both.

But.

6

Bang. Thud.

The large window in front of them was broken with a single hole in it.

The sound of panic that ensued sounded like cheers to her. It was not just cheers for only him and her, the ‘known’ dancers, but for you as well. Even if you would never actually hear it.

"Imaginary sure plays with its own rules." She commented as she pulled the electric threads around her fingers.

And just like that, the remaining audience fell to the floor, silent upon the end of the performance.

A streak of golden Imaginary dispersed into tiny particles as if congratulating them, just to fade seconds later. She tilted her head up, lips curling into a smile at the sight. She curtsied, whether to the corpse on the floor or the person who made that shot, who knows.

The song had ended, and the dance concluded, but the rain still continued.

He, on the other hand, had already grabbed the thing they came for. She checked the content. The amount was as expected.

“Sehr gut gemacht (Well done)~” She praised, reaching out to her partner.

He took her hand, his thumb rubbing the skin of her palm.

Waltz was a two-person dance, traditionally. But traditions were just that, traditions–when had people truly followed them? And when had they—the Stellaron Hunters, those who did not even follow laws and orders— ever chosen to follow traditions?

It would be boring, restrictive, and safe. And in a way, unfulfilling.

They headed out, back into that benevolent embrace.

The song had ended, and two of the dancers gazed at their third ‘partner’.

Everyone did their part perfectly. A Waltz, a beautiful harmonious dance.

Even if you did not know it yet, you had already joined the dance long before the three of them ever realized.

They convened quickly after exiting the building.

He had smashed the large window into pieces as they jumped out from it.

Rain slowly seeped into their skin, since they had abandoned the raincoats outside before entering the building. It would have saved them from being splattered in blood, and now, rain. But it would not be troublesome to go collect them right now.

“Now where’s our treasure…” Kafka asked, both looking around to find you.

But it was you who found them first.

Your eyes, even if slightly covered by the raincoat, were clearly shining gold as you rushed to the two's sides.

You were drenched, not in blood like him and Kafka but in water. Your eyes scanned the twos’ faces, despite the water that dared to get into your eyes.

He wanted to reach out to wipe them from your face, but what could he do when you three were standing there in the rain? That would not do. Maybe he should really go and fetch those raincoats.

But before he could turn and retrieve them, you had already pulled out an umbrella, from where he did not know.

“Where are your raincoats?” You opened the umbrella, reaching to place it above him and her. “Actually… never mind, don’t answer. And no, no need to retrieve them.”

Your eyes, perceptive, darted from Kafka to him, worried. But soon your expression shifted to something akin to relief, and they soon went back to their original color, one that he was less familiar with.

He handed the relics over, just like Destiny's Slave had instructed. The bag of loot was looked over briefly. You seemed surprised, it seemed like Elio did not inform you about it.

But you quickly closed the bag, putting it away to reach out to his left wrist, and he extended it toward you.

“I’ll change your bandages when we get back. I brought a lot...” You commented, no, demanded even.

Gold power seeped into him, warm and inviting, unselective and so unlike the one inside of him. All the bullets in his body were cast out and wounds closed up. Even the irritated pain from the rain touching the open wounds that he did not notice faded into a relaxing calmness.

The desire to heal, to take care. How… adorable, as Kafka had always said.

“You two need a bath. And…” Your eyes shifted to Kafka’s white shirt, undoubtedly wet and see-through, paused, then immediately looked back at his hand. "... a change of clothes…”

There was a clear tremble in your voice. He watched as you blushed, noticeable even if under the umbrella. Your mouth mumbled something unrecognizable as if reassuring yourself.

“We certainly do, dear~” His partner responded, smiling too wide. 'Especially if you help us.’ She whispered, just low enough for him to hear. His eyes darted towards her before returning back to you.

You did not hear Kafka's words, too focused on his hand to notice, but he could tell. And just as quickly as you reached for his hand, you let go of it, with a small smile cracking through.

Pleased. You were pleased.

It caused some ache in his heart. That... feeling, one he would try to avoid yet now feels so pleasant in his chest. He liked it.

"Not gonna check up on me, Doctor?"

"I can tell you're not injured, you know."

"But my heart's wounded by your actions."

You rolled your eyes, about to speak just as he reached up to and wiped the rainwater under your eyes.

Your face tilted up as his thumb rubbed away the water, your pupils dilating and trembling. You opened your mouth and he waited for any words of dismissal, but no sound came out. Your face was soft against his calloused hand, eyes slightly teary from being in the rain. You stood there under him, non-reactive.

In the corner of his eyes, Kafka reached her hands up, three fingers covering her mouth.

“...” Your lips closed and opened again, forming some words, but you remained beautifully stunt in his hand. But it did not last for as long as he wished it did. “Let’s… go.” The moment you said those words, you also walked away, your back to them both.

He turned towards you, looking at your back as Kafka reached over for his hand.

“Right after you, our treasure~” Their treasure stopped for a second before turning back to glare at Kafka but did not provide any comment.

Kafka was first to follow your lead, and he followed right after, holding her hand.

The rain grew heavier, erasing the traces of the culprits, and only a happy-sounding humming in front of him was heard.

A warm bath sounded nice.

Chapter Text

Have you ever questioned why you are like this and how you came to be?

Especially when you look in the mirror. The way your face was shaped, the way your hair flows. From your height, your weight, your skin, your everything.

Even the way you choose to dress. But oh wait, this outfit was already picked out for you. Or the things you keep on you all the time. Oh wait… those were already with you when you woke up.

Your voice, your accent, your speech, your skills, your thoughts.

It is all yours!

Yet somehow you never knew how all of it came to be.

Kafka probably can answer your questions. But she won't. The last time you tried you had to play that game of hers.

You can go ask around, make up some logical conclusion, or simply ignore the question altogether.

After all, you can still live without knowing how a lot of the things you possessed came to be.

Your voice, your accent, your speech, your skills, your thoughts…

The way you behave, the way you feel when you look at the treasures that you always have on you, the way you react to things, the way you cherish your companions.

Or even the way this… artifact can help you heal yourself.

The questions you have are many. And you know you will go out of your way to find the answer to them. Even if you have to dig it out of weird places or do questionable things that get you judged by your companion.

But you were once told that you needn't think about your past or doubt yourself.

So, you feel like this is the one question you don't feel like you need to seek the answer to.

After all, all you want to focus on right now was the present and those who surround you. Your companion, who would, no, will never betray you. You now have a place to go back to now.

"L̴҉̴͙͖̞̳̜̖ͣͧ̑̑͜͞͠͞͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡'s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡ d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡n̸͐̈́͟͟͝c̷̶҉̵̢͚̣̻̲̬͑̑͛͐̀͜͜͜͝͡͝͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞, Ṡ̷̢̫̞̻͈͋͛̓̅͜͜͜͠͠͠t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞."

Chapter Text

7 days until Stelle is out.

Kafka’s voice rang through the telecom, telling you both to buckle up before the calming sound of the engine roared to life.

The mission had ended. No Stellaron collected.

You only had time for a quick shower before having to pack up and leave, but somehow a bloody smell still lingered. Hopefully, the food you gave out did not suffer the same fate.

You tilted your head back and closed your eyes. Your eyelids were heavy as sleep slowly crept due to exhaustion. Even the worn-down uncomfortable cushion did not entice you to stay awake. You wanted to sleep, and you thought you deserve some after what happened.

But you fought against it anyway.

The last time you fell asleep on the spaceship, Blade had to carried you back to your room because you ‘refused’ to wake up. He had done that to most of the Stellaron Hunters by now, but still…

You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, yawning a few times for good measure.

‘Stay awake. It's only 30 minutes until we can warp straight to the HQ anyway.’

So you opted to find some distractions to keep you awake. You reached for your phone and held it up high so you could see it, too lazy to move your head.

There was no reception, just as you expected. No endless scrolling then.

The board games Silver Wolf brought on the spaceship would not do either. All of them require at least 2 players. And…

You glanced at Blade, and as expected, he was sleeping. It was best to let him rest.

He had been through too much already. Besides, he did not know how to play most of them anyway, and explaining it to him would take too long. Better not bother him.

You searched your mind for ideas, anything would do at this point, just then, your hand brushed against something in your pocket.

You fished the jade out. It fitted in your palm, unpolished and rough. Freshly mined, yet its color was vibrant and consistent.

Beautiful and rare, handed to you by Blade before you three left the planet.

"Here’s the jade, no cracks, hopefully… Eh… Why are you handing it back to me?"

"Destiny Slave’s order."

It had been with you ever since.

You opened your note app, made an entry for it before bringing it up to the ceiling light. The gemstone glowed beautifully, with no clear cracks or oddities. Deep green in color. Probably top quality.

Its color seemed brighter than it was back when Blade gave it to you. Clearer even.

A swirl of gold and green rested inside, the signature colors of the Abundance, a mix of yours and Blade. You channeled your power into it, observing how it got absorbed as the stone brightened just slightly.

It was undoubtedly from the same material as the gemstone on your ring.

From the Xianzhou Alliance then, you noted. Or would have been of the Alliance.

You took your ring out, holding it in your other hand as you compared the two objects. The way they both pulsed when you poured energy into them was almost identical. Both were taking your energy, one because it barely had any before this, the other because you had spent some of the power reserved in it.

And the amount was not insignificant too. You knew from personal experience just how much a gem like this could hold. Yet, that left a huge question that had been on your mind since you woke up.

Why exactly were you feeling… fine?

Sure, you were an Emanator of Abundance, had been since you were 12. You knew firsthand how the Abundance’s power always kept its user in the best shape. But given how much you had used /were drained of, it was strange that you felt as good as ever.

The amount that the jade and Blade had taken from you were no joke. Yeah sure, you were having a slight headache from using Imaginary Sight for too long, and your eyes had just recovered from being kept open for a long period of time under the rain. But that was it.

Nothing major for concern to be raised.

You glanced at your ring and put it on. It was your companion, something you kept close by, always near or on your body.

Rings were a hazard to your profession(maybe that woman forgot about that). But it was comforting how the ring continuously dug into your power and stored some inside of itself.

An anchor and a reminder.

It was to remind you that this power was not only for personal use, but also for others. It was what she had taught you. That having this ‘gift’ meant having the privilege to use it to help others.

What a meaningful… lesson.

But it was a fucking awful day when you first received it.

‘The Plagues Author’ had acknowledged you three days prior. It was scary back then, a divine being’s gaze. And she-your teacher- had disappeared right after you announced it, only to appear back with this very ring.

In her absent, you had followed your normal routine: wake up, pray (without any punishments for the day prior’s mistakes because that woman was gone), breakfast, take care and heal of the patients she had brought in, lunch, more patients, dinner, pray, bed.

Rinsed and repeated.

You had ignored or sedated the ones that could be ‘discharged’ immediately, awaiting your teacher’s return. They needed to be observed and judged, not to assess their recovery, that was your job, but to see how well you did.

You were always watching and observing, always available, always trying your best. You behaved as if she was still there, monitoring you.

Just like she ordered you to.

And for three days straight, you did that. Alone, with your patients and her assistants who were instructed not to help you.

Then, she came back right when the last of that patch had been cured. 48. You cured 48 people in three days, without even fully understanding the ‘gift’ you had received. It was a miracle. Just what she wanted.

After all of that, she gave you a late congratulation and handed you the ring.

You remembered that day like it was just yesterday.

You remembered how excited you were at her words, the warm and fuzzy feeling erupting in your belly. You remembered the dopamine spike you had when she said to hold out your hand. You remembered being happy when she placed a silver ring embedded with a dull green gemstone into your outstretched palm.

And you remembered the stone glowed and your vision suddenly went dark.

That day, Yaoshi visited you in that 'Paradise'.

And when you woke up, three days later, with an IV attached, the ring was on your thumb, yellow and green swirling as it gently glowed.

If that was the effect of a simple small gemstone that fitted on a ring, why did this palm-size jade have less effect on you?

Blade did ‘provide’, for lack of a better word, some amount; but from your own personal experience, it should have taken much more. Enough to knock you out for days, even a whole week.

Maybe it was because of Y̵̷̛̤͍̅́̕ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚s̩͙͖̋͛͟h̶̯̰̝̻̿̓͢i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟

M̶̷̲̊ͥ͋͟ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞y̯̤͑́́̓́b̵̸͙̅̽͡ͅę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟t̴͕͖͓̀ ẅ̷̷̢̟͇͈̒ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞s̩͙͖̋͛͟ t̴͕͖͓̀h̶̯̰̝̻̿̓͢ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞n̷̶̯͉̊̽̐ͦ͘k̶̸͙̭̹͆͟s̩͙͖̋͛͟ t̴͕͖͓̀ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚ Y̵̷̛̤͍̅́̕ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚s̩͙͖̋͛͟h̶̯̰̝̻̿̓͢i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟ t̴͕͖͓̀h̶̯̰̝̻̿̓͢ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞t̴͕͖͓̀ y̯̤͑́́̓́ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚û̶͙̽̿͆̈ ẅ̷̷̢̟͇͈̒ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊r̶̷̲͍̭͐̾̀͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ s̩͙͖̋͛͟t̴͕͖͓̀i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟ḻ̸͈ͧ͑̓̓̀͡ḻ̸͈ͧ͑̓̓̀͡ ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞ẅ̷̷̢̟͇͈̒ă̶̸̝ͦ͊̿͋͞k̶̸͙̭̹͆͟ę̷̵̧̖̫̗̆̊ r̶̷̲͍̭͐̾̀͟i̵͓͙̱͚̎͟g̴̶̛̮̣͙͠h̶̯̰̝̻̿̓͢t̴͕͖͓̀ n̷̶̯͉̊̽̐ͦ͘ȍ̸̢̢̮͚̐̚ẅ̷̷̢̟͇͈̒.

Elio probably knew. Why wouldn’t he? He would have foreseen this a long time ago, just like he always had.

You wanted to feel… annoyed at him. For not warning you at all. But it all worked out in the end, did it not? Even if you felt uncomfortable in the process.

You sighed and tilted your head to look out the window.

The galaxy that hosted the planet you were on glowed brightly, now in its full colors compared to when Yaoshi summoned you. So large and so beautiful, yet you still got goosebumps when you thought back about it.

Too bright.

You unconsciously rubbed your eyes, feeling some tears forming. You did not know if it was reflexive or a reaction to what happened nor did you want to dew on it.

So you turned your gaze back to the jade and your ring. The purpose of the jade was unknown to you, and the more you stared at it, the worse the theories your brain produced. Let’s just ask Elio later.

So you put both of them away. Besides, you really should do a small check-up on Blade anyway.

Putting your phone away, you looked up at him. He had not moved an inch, his bangs partially covering his face while hugging that sword of his.

From where you sat, you could even see the small indents of his eyebrows (it made you want to pour your power into him, to ease him of his pain). His eye bags were more profound, deeper, and darker than usual. His hair was unkempt, spiky, and rough, and in need of a trimming. He looked on guard, ready to react to even a single turbulence or sound.

He was pleasant to stare at.

You waved the thought away from your mind. Not the time to admire your coworker right now. Definitely not the time to do so. Especially with Blade. You really should not stare at Blade.

You coughed involuntarily, bringing your focus back on what you were going to do, and turned on your Imaginary Sight.

You scanned him head to toe. Nothing was exactly out of the ordinary, but was there anything about Blade that was exactly normal?

His wounds had healed nicely, no muscle was in need of being cut open and reattached correctly. The Abundance in his body remained dormantly, almost silent as it blended under the distinct green of his elemental signature. The Mara, ever so present, toyed with his mind, a mixture of gold, black, and red swirling in his head.

Instinctively, you reached out to him.

‘Rid the world of pain and suffering.’

Those teachings echoed in your head. The voice you had not heard in years repeated the words over and over again, as clear as the day she went missing.

You can feel it, the way you gather your power into your hand, ready to help him. Just a small touch and—

His facial muscles shifted.

You flinched, your hand back retracting back. You almost did something without permission. That would have been bad.

Hoping he had not noticed, you quickly turned off your Imaginary Sight, figuring you were done with examining him anyway.

And when all colors came back, his fiery eyes were the first thing to come to view. He was staring at you, his gaze unfaltering even when you two made eye contact. Then, his eyes looked down to your clasped hand before darting back up to meet your eyes again.

An awkward silence ensued, and you in habit found yourself staring right back at him.

He was pleasant to stare at.

You mentally waved the thought from your mind.

You should not be staring back at him. Why was he staring at you anyway? He was just sleeping a moment ago. Right now he should be resting.

Right. You should tell him to stop focusing on you. He was the one who got severely injured and not you, and you were doing fine. Yeah you really, really should do that.

And why was he looking at you like that? Why was he paying attention to you? Even back then… No, no. Do not think too much about his actions. He was just… he was just… he was… Why was he still staring at you—

“Doctor.” Blade’s rough voice cut through the silence and your train of thought. He remained in his original position, hugging his sword tight.

You instinctively reached to find a water bottle for his throat. He accepted it and downed half of it in one go. Then, he returned to just staring at you, no more words spoken.

It was not easy to guess who did most of the talking between him and Kafka.

“Uhm… do you need something?”

His eyes wavered a little before he shook his head no. But when you expected him to go back to his unconventional way of sleeping, his eyes continued to stay on your form.

“Don’t you have questions for me, Doctor?” Blade asked.

Of course, you had questions you wanted to ask. That was part of your job, figuring out what went wrong, not just relying on observations and labs. Even ‘Imaginary Sight’ did not tell the full story of what caused what. Testimonies helped, sometimes very little, but most of the time a lot in many cases.

And the jade, that freaking jade.

He must had obtained that from one of the Xianzhou ships, one way or another. Sure, it was ‘Destiny Slave’s orders’, but it was dangerous for him to be anywhere near anything related to the Alliance. The Mara was no joke and neither you or Kafka was with him the entire time.

Even ignoring all of that, he did come back with severe injuries.

Three major wounds: on his back, right arm and the right side of his stomach.

His wounds were worsen due to teleportation, but it would not make sense for him to get that injured from just stealing a gemstone (unless you were severely underestimating its values). You had seen him fight, so unless he was majorly delirious while fighting someone powerful or a ridiculous amount of people at the same time, you could not think of a better explanation.

The wounds indicated that they probably tried to disarm him or incapacitated him, but none actually made him ‘drop’ the gem.

Either they were experienced fighter(s) who only noticed him and not the fact he had the gem, or they wanted to capture him altogether, via disarming him.

But his wounds, just like this whole thing, reeked of the Xianzhou. The wounds, even torned, looked like it was from glaives.

Cloud Knights.

You had seen the wounds of enough Mara-strucks and Borisins to recognize that fact, courtesy of that woman.

The more you thought of it, the more questions arised. Questions that was not needed for a physical examination. Psychological? Sure, but Blade was not in a good state to do that (even if you really, really, really wanted to ask him questions).

“We can do that after you rest.” You replied, intending to end the conversation right then and there. You needed to be stern. You were always stern with your patients.

“I don’t trust my memory, Doctor.” Blade countered quickly, not back down.

"Blade, please, it's best that you rest."

You stared at him and he stared back. He was silent for a moment hopefully considering your words. But he shook his head and repeated the same words anyway.
Stubborn. Incredibly stubborn, those two lovers. Always demanding more and more and more and— And curse you for being too soft to refuse them.
You sighed defeatedly and pulled out your phone. If it had to be this way, let’s just make it quick.

“Alright then…How you’re feeling. Just as… lethargic as the previous times, I assumed?”

He nodded, and you continued with your series of questions. Memories were more blurry than usual (as expected), his body ached where most of the major wounds resided, motor function had semi-returned to normal, …

You noted all of it down, emphasizing anything that could relate to the medicine. Nothing exactly too far from your own calculations, so you moved to your final question.

“Ok… Final question, as usual, how many members are in our group? And names, please.” You asked, waiting for him to answer.

It was just something you threw in just in case, an extra something to reassure yourself.

So you reviewed the notes you took while waiting for his answer. He never failed this test anyway.

But when he did not answer you for two minutes straight, you looked up to find he was frowning. You could see how he was mentally counting in his head yet he was hesitating to give you the answer.

“Blade?” You asked, sweat drenching your forehead. "Is something wrong?"

Blade looked at you before answering.

“Six. Elio, Kafka, Sam, you, me, and…” 

 
  [8:30 am, Stellaron Hunter’s HQ.]

Silver Wolf completed her last daily quest of the last game she needed to play.

“Ugh so boring, when is anyone coming back?” She groaned, stretching across the sofa.

She had been hanging out (alone) in the Lounge in case someone came back. She was so bored out of her mind that even her games started to get less and less entertaining, not to mention most of them were having ‘Dead patches’ that provided absolutely nothing new for her to do.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, finding things to do. Maybe someone texted her. Or texted in any of the group chats she was in. But nope, her DMs were drier than that of the corpses of Sam’s victims.

Her genius brain told her that she would need to make the first move, just like always.

So she clicked on the Stellaron Hunter's group chat and started typing.

An emoji. A classic signal that meant she was there for anyone who wanted to text. Now all she needed to do was wait. So she hopped off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Maybe someone would respond after she had gotten more snacks.

But when she sat back down with a bunch of snacks, absolutely nothing!

She grabbed a handful of snacks and shoved it in her mouth. No one. She waited for one minute, then two, then three. Absolutely no one!

This was certified to be the first time she had been this bored since joining the Stellaron Hunters. It felt like if she looked up, she would see an achievement above her head for ‘Being bored while being a literally Stellaron Hunter’.

Ugh. How boring.

Just then, her genius brain remembered a text from Elio. A text that said that those three were coming back from the mission at… exactly the time on her screen. (‘Coming back’ does not mean ‘Arriving’ in Elio’s vocabulary, strangely). On a spaceship that she, expectedly, had access to.

Now that's something fun she could do.

She tapped on the holographic screens, pinpointing the spaceship's location and route. The route it was taking indicated it was getting prepared to warp to the HQ. The flight route was stable, consistent with how the autopilot operates. No particular weird space anomalies anywhere near it, so it should have no problem getting back.

The little icon of the spaceship appears on her map, with Kafka, the Doctor, and Blade? on it?

Huh, she remembered seeing Kafka and the Doctor going on the mission together, but not with Blade.

“Is this a date or something?” She mouthed before checking the spaceship’s camera.

Ok, wait. Doctor, Kafka, and Blade on the same spaceship. Auto-pilot was on. Well, auto-pilot should always be on during this part of the journey but still…

Was she sure she wanted to see what was happening on the ship? Like those two lovers would respect any of the Doctor’s decisions and boundaries, but did she really want to see what scheme they were up to? Did she really want to know, even with how bored she was???

She literally just bought a cartridge that was capable of storing… uhhh 3 years' worth of pictures of the Doctor for Kafka (and probably for more years to come). But there was no real way to confirm exactly how many pictures and potential videos Kafka already had (she did not want to know). How long had the Doctor been a Stellaron Hunter anyway? Silver Wolf never asked.

Most of her conversations with you were interesting enough that she never needed to resort to small talk. She just knew that you joined before Blade.

Ok, back to the previous question: Does she want to know???

‘Too convenient’. Silver Wolf thought. It was like Destiny was doing its best to make this work out.

But she was too curious for her own good. So against her better judgment, she accessed the camera system.

And… that was more normal than she thought?

You sat across from Blade, both of your legs roughly 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) from touching. It would count as being ‘close’, but since they never needed to transport many people, the spaceship the Hunters regularly used was smaller in size. For convenience and efficiency.

So forced proximity?

They were talking, with you taking notes and Blade staring at you without fail.

Not the closest Silver Wolf had quote-on-quote ‘caught you guys’ being together (that one time would haunt her till the day she died (chapter 2 everyone, chapter 2)).

But it was so natural. They both seemed to not mind the close proximity, nor did it look that awkward. Honestly, those three never exactly looked ‘awkward’ around each other. Well… until 3 weeks ago, she digressed.

She reached for some more snacks just to find that she had eaten them all. That was boring.

So everyone was fine and she worried for nothing.

She checked the flight path and they would soon get close enough to warp to the HQ safely, so she turned off the camera and decided to go greet them.

“Welcome back, and since Elio did not make a fuss on the group chat, it seemed like all of you got a “S” this time around.” Silver Wolf said at the sight of her three coworkers entering the HQ, putting her hands on her hips.

She scanned her colleagues. All three of them looked spent, so probably no actual theatrics were done. But even when all three of them turned to look at her, only silence was met.

That’s weird…

Silver Wolf raised an eyebrow. From what she observed, none of the Stellaron Hunters really went out of their way to greet each other after a mission. She herself preferred to plop onto her mess of a bed right after a mission, and socializing had no part in any of it. Even so, this was not the kinda reaction she was expecting.

Maybe she just found a secret path thanks to her new behavior. But the bad feelings she was getting told her there was more to uncover. So, just like how she would normally solve puzzles and murder mysteries, she opted to look for clues.

First, she already had the information of what happened on the spaceship. Kafka was piloting, while Blade and you evidently were just doing a checkup. Blade was, in her words, intensely staring at you throughout the 2 minutes she was watching, but that was just Blade being Blade.

Secondly, the behavior of all three of them right now.

The order of which you three were walking was as follow: Kafka, you, Blade. Pretty accurate to the characteristic of you three. But she did notice for a second you and Blade seemed to have a little ‘disagreement’ on the order in which you got off the spaceship.

Blade usually was in the back, she noticed. Unless he was agitated, he always keen on making sure if someone did ambush, he would take most of the hit.

You being in the middle made sense. Healer position and stuff. But what was that about? It was like you wanted to be less noticeable, and from what she could see your mood seemed more awful than what she saw.

Not to mention you seemed less keen on what was in front of you yet did not dare to look anywhere else but forward.

Interesting.

Other than you, Blade was also a little strange. He was eyeing Silver Wolf up and down like she was a strange occurrence that the script did not account for. He was usually quiet and distant, but right now he seemed more… cautious than just simple aloofness he had.

Her genius brain told her that was a clue worth noting.

And Kafka was pristine as ever. Almost. Seemed like she herself was sensing something was also wrong. So Kafka had no clue either.

“Nice to see you go and greet us, Wolfie.” Kafka greeted her back with a smile. Just Kafka being Kafka.

So the only one truly out of the ordinary was you. Hum... she did need to respond.

“Yeah yeah. I mean I was bored and none of you saw or replied to my message! Made me stressed out of nowhere. Thought I had to go collect you all for a second.” She replied, hoping to get more clues. “Although, what the hell did Elio put you guys through? Isn’t this Doc’s first time doing a mission after a while? I thought he would give you something easy to do.”

Kafka was silent. It was hard for Silver Wolf to guess her emotion in general, her ability to hide what she was actually thinking was terrifying, to say the least. Not to mention the contacts she had.  ‘The eyes were the window to the soul’ or so she heard. But glancing at you and Blade yielded no further clues either.

Silver Wolf was suspicious, and admittedly noisy (She was always noisy about the things she cared about). But she figured you three were tired.

But just as she was about to drop the conversation, the Doctor walked up to her and patted her on the head.

“Wolfie, mind getting us something to eat?” You said, retreating your hand.

Silver Wolf looked up at you. You were smiling, sure, but it looked like a ‘guilty’ smile, one that anyone would do when they were trying to trick themselves or others that everything was fine.

So, she lingered. Waiting if you would cough up anything, a clue to what exactly transpired. But that did not seem to provide any answers, so she just accepted the quest.

“I don’t mind. I’m sure there are some noodles I could make, and maybe some eggs, anyone?”

All of you nodded.

Oke, maybe some food would make them tell her what was happening.

Chapter Text

“Now, will you two tell me what it is that you two are avoiding telling Silver Wolf?” He heard Kafka's calm voice above him. “Or am I not allowed to know?”

He laid there, his head on her lap, his eyes closed. Her usual perfume lingered in the air that he breathed, mixed with faint traces of the spaceship freshener.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. He slowed his breath to a point of being inhuman, something he had mastered after decades, no, centuries.

Manicured fingers massaged his scalp, occasionally reaching down to trace the shape of his ear.

A familiar and tranquil presence. She, despite not knowing fear, was his source of peace. She, a devil, was his anchor to reality, as ridiculous as it sounded.

He felt unburdened. Like he could leave this to her to take care of. Maybe he could even fall asleep right now, to her gentle caress and presence.

But the jolts of the Mara mocking him lingered, too painful and too cruel. They would never let him go, always being there, always reminding him of the things he had done and will soon forget.

Yet the ‘calming’ figure was not calm at all. He could sense it, Kafka's emotions. But he did not know what they truly were. He knew ‘fear’ and she did not; her emotions may be different compared to everyone else.

But that woman, his woman, was his. He, deep inside, knew how she was, even if logically he did not. And she was angry. Kafka, who always tried to keep her emotions in check, was angry. It was difficult to guess about anything related to her, and yet he tried anyway. So he guessed she was angry.

“Doctor. I do hope that you tell me what's going on with Blade.” Kafka asked, her voice intimidating even to him.

Your end was silent. You did not answer. Blade knew you would not be able to answer Kafka.

It was never hard for you to report on medical-related things. The cold, factual words you spoke every check-up, every time you aided him, every time you healed the others' wounds. He had been on the receiving side too many times by now. It was never hard for you when it came to physical stuff.

Healing physical wounds was easy for you. So, reporting it ended up being the same. Anything that you could solve and cure was treated the same way.

But it was the mind that you seemed to hesitate.

He did not know why (he wanted to know, even if he would eventually forget). Maybe you were not trained for it. Maybe you thought it was not your place to disclose that subject. Maybe because of something you dealt with in the past.

But whatever the reason was, you were feeling guilty for not being able to help. You always did. And that guilt always looked like it was eating you away.

So, unfortunately, he would need to be the person who answers Kafka.

“I forgot about that girl.” Blade spat out, moving to sit up properly. Then, he turned to look at both of you.

“Silver Wolf.”

Your nails dug into your palm as you looked over at Blade.

The way Silver Wolf’s name rolled off his tongue sounded so distant and strange. It was like he had never spoken those words. It was off, from the pronunciation to the tone to the way he stressed the syllables.

Another proof to solidify the truth of this predicament.

He spoke it like a fact, an inevitable one. All of you knew that. It was just that none of you were exactly prepared for it. Knowing the inevitable never meant you were prepared for it. Just like with death or time, it was something inescapable. Not you, nor Kafka, nor anyone could do anything to stop it.

That was just how Blade was. It was just how his fate was.

And yet, you felt ridiculously awful about it.

“Blade’s memory… It’s hard to estimate and explain, but he seems to remember Silver Wolf’s ‘existence’, just not Silver Wolf…herself.”

Kafka sat back, contemplating before nodding. She was accepting of it, in your eyes. “So he remembers there being a sixth member, just not… who that is?”

‘Who that is?’ was Silver Wolf.

You nodded, glancing at the kitchen, hoping the young woman would stay busy for a little longer.

She had not been here long, but the news probably would devastated her. Blade was the one who trained her after all, even you, as dense as you were, could tell Silver Wolf cherished him.

The three of you remained silent, as the fact weighed heavily in the air. Blade forgot. About Silver Wolf. And only the three of you knew. Maybe Elio also knew.

“It would be best to… contact Elio.” You broke the silence. “He would… come up with something.”

It was the best way, in your opinion, to ensure the best result. Elio always strived for the best results, and so did all of you. Maybe he already had a plan in mind.

Kafka and Blade nodded, and you three looked at each other.

“I’ll contact him.” Kafka said. “You two just… rest for now until Wolfie comes back with food."

She got into the bath first before he followed, sitting with his back to her chest.

The water was just right, warm and inviting. A clear contrast to the cold rain they experienced just mere hours ago.

He kept his head lowered, as silent as a mouse. She, on the other hand, was doing her best to wash him.

Grabbing the shower head, she wet his hair, careful not to get it on his face. Blade’s hair had always been thick, so she was meticulous in the process. Her lover relaxed under her, his shoulder slumped as he made sounds that he did not even bother to hide.

Everything else was a routine to her, slathering shampoo into his hair, massaging his scalp, careful not to hurt him with her nails. Then she rinsed it all out, putting conditioner in his hair and brushing any knots or clumps out.

All the while, she hummed a melody, just something she regularly listened to on the phonograph, creating an environment that was familiar to him.

It was important, making sure he was aware of where he was and who he was after a Mara surge. Keeping things simple helped with the Mara, and it also helped him think.

Because in the end, when in a familiar setting, one would be less inclined to ask about ‘why’. ‘Why’ usually accompanied questions with very complicated answers. It was easy for questions to just not exist when you let your guard down, basking in a warmth one was used to.

One would forget for a moment, just for a moment, the world and its cruelty.

But there were other ways that the brain avoided questions, more forceful ways, too, irreversible yet necessary.

She had heard them from you, psychological ways the brain made sure its owner continued to live, to avoid the cruel yet factual questions. For Blade, it was by forcefully erasing memories on a wide scale.

He was no stranger to this occurrence.

That was why ‘why’ never really mattered to him. ‘Why’ was long and complicated, yet never truly mattered anyway in his long, drawn-out life.

Why did he become like this? Why him? Why did that happen? Why did he forget? Why did anything even matter anyway? ... At least that was what she thought he would ask.

‘Why’ was too long and torturous for him.

His mind was a puzzle that would never be completed, with pieces missing or deformed until unrecognizable. The remaining ones were always at risk of suffering the same fate, whether it was to the Mara or her words. True clarity was not something Blade could usually afford, not with what he had become. But she would do her best to aid him, to lessen his suffering.

Even if she herself were a devil, she would gladly serve as a guide for him.

No one likes their lover in pain, after all.

“You need not do this for me, Kafka, I am simply a weapon for you to wield.”

He had told her that many times, yet she was persistent, always there, checking on and taking care of him.

She knew he would speak if he wanted to, and he knew she had things she wanted to ask him about. Curiosity came easily for someone like her. After all, she did not have the capability to understand why people fear the consequences of certain questions. And not having fear only drives her urge to ask questions further.

But right now, she was just taking care of him, making sure he felt loved and cared for.

She stopped mindlessly brushing through his hair to patiently gather it and used a hair clip to keep it up. This was usually when she moved on to massaging his neck and shoulders, but Blade spoke up instead.

“Sorry.” His voice broke the tranquil silence between them, his shoulder relaxing just a bit under her hands. “...Sorry for … whatever happened.”

There it was, his ‘sorries’.

Blade, her dearest A-Ren, never really said ‘sorry’. He apologized through his actions, even when the other party never knew what his real intentions were. Blade was kind and was perceived as kind by those who got the fortune of being around him.

At least, the people around him now always saw him as a kind person, and Kafka assumed so.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. In the end, the Doctor and I are both fine, and the mission is completed. And don’t worry about Silver Wolf, I’m sure it will all be fine. Elio assured me of such.”

You did not hurt us, A-Ren. She wanted to say, but did not.

For the words that remained unspoken even between them were like the ever-expanding Universe, unfathomable yet always growing in size. And that would never change, as there would never be a case when the spaces for unspoken words between two individuals run out.

Some even say it showed love, the way things were expressed, not through the very thing that we were evolved to be able to do, yet could be understood just as much.

Some say it represented tragedy, how it only showed how limited our time and resources and chances to truly express just how bottomless love can even be.

Some say it was simply the truth or simply science, since two individuals meant two people, two beings, two creatures that were separate from each other. We would never truly understand another, even with unlimited time, even with infinite chances to try.

Unspoken words were inevitable.

So did it even matter in the end? How much of his and her words that could be spoken to each other was lost forever in the capacity of their mind and the circumstances of their lives? Maybe no, both of them had accepted that fact and had learnt to live with it.

Blade sighed and turned back to look at her. Those fiery eyes that had lost their spark stared at her, watching her expression.

“I…” He paused, searching for the words. Where would he even begin when his mind refused to focus?

The image of your face came first.

He saw it, the fear in your eyes was the same as those who died at his hands. It was the first thing he remembered when he woke up. He had been injured pretty severely, and teleporting over long distances probably caused the injury to become worse.

He was numbed to pain now, so used to it that he forgot the horror it could bring to other who witness them.

It haunted him, the face you made, as the guilt dragged him further and further into the abyss that was his mind. But when he tried to find something to anchor himself, grabbing whatever closest to him, your voice came.

“B–de? Do y-u n-ed wa-er?”

Your voice, so distant yet so near, so caring that he could even pick it up even when he was delirious.

And when he opened his eyes, he saw your concerned face, asking if he needed water. He did, desperately so, for the guilt that bubbled up his throat make every breath felt more of sand than air.

But despite his thirst, he chose to speak. But despite his guilt, he did not say sorry.

He asked for the jade, an excuse. The jade was important, something Elio stated explicitly would be handed to you. But it was an excuse, one that not only his brain recognize but also his guts.

His guts knew the jade would be fine, a feeling in him saying that not much would even damage it. But he used it as an excuse anyway. He always made up excuses when it came to you.

Even before these… feelings for you even emerged.

Because there had been a time he absolutely refused your treatment, not wanting the wounds to heal so fast, to feel the pain, to remind himself of the path he had chosen.

A blade, a weapon, whether blunt or sharp, he remained a tool, an object. He did not need care, for he would eventually cut down those in his path either way.

Time was on his side, always, and this was the path he had chosen himself.

But soon, he came to your office even when he didn’t let them touch him.

At first it was out of pure instinct. Somehow, he always gravitate towards your presence, as if the very cursed things running in his vein along with his blood seeked you. He followed through with that instinct though, but he was not going to let it win.

So he came by, but refused your treatment. Even so, you did not question him, just letting him sit there, on that very examination table, as his wounds slowly, agonizingly, reclosed themself.

Then you would ask if he wanted you to change his bandages after what felt like hours, and if he refused, an offer of fresh ones was placed by his side, with a small reminder (scolding) that he needed to change them regularly.

That evolved to letting you touch him, only for redoing his bandages. To then let you use your power on him, which took a year. Your patience, even as he drove you away, denying what your role was as a fellow Stellaron Hunter, made him feel something.

He could see it back then, even if he did not enjoy looking at you then, that you were bothered. You wanted to heal him, desperately so. It was almost like it was in your nature to do so.

An instinct of yours that was denied firmly by him for so long.

Yet you respected how he saw himself and his choice, and yet he returned that sentiment by rejecting what your role was. It was cruel of him, he thought, to do so to you.

And then, you grew on him. Your presence was comforting. Not exactly like the way Kafka was. The Mara in him listened to her, obeying her without resisting. And she…she cared for him, she loved him, she was his lover after all.

But you? The thoughts the Mara brought remain, yet he found it easier to control them in your presence. One could even say they felt… satisfied in your presence, rather than pure obediency in Kafka’s.

First, he found it strange. After centuries of having the Mara haunt him without any rest, this was too much for him. Kafka came, smoothing them for the first time and got him into this position.

And then you. It felt like too much. He did not deserve this. All of this.

You were unconsciously doing it, he concluded. He watched you enough to know you only thought it only worked when you actively used your power. But the simple act of being near you was almost… enough.

But it created a doubt within him. Doubting whether his feelings were for you or simply for the comfort and relief that you brought. He was already cruel enough to you for long enough already, it would just be evil of him if he were to led you to believe he had feelings for you when he did not.

(He did, he did have feelings for you).

Yet, even when his doubt was still there, he chose to seek you out. To be near you, to feel your care, to feel like he had the slightest of control over the Mara (because he could choose to be near you or not, even if he usually chose the first options these days).

And to figure out what his feelings actually were.

But he knew it would be hard, trying to get to know you better.But he needed to, or else he would never truly figure it out.

Kafka failed for years (overstatement) even before he joined, and he knew you were clearly avoiding him outside of things inside your responsibilities, despite masking it well.

You cared, but were scared of people taking advantage of the fact you cared so much. There was something about you that you did not want others to figure out, and you accomplished that by making sure everyone stayed at a distance. Making sure that you would not elaborate any further when it came to certain topics.

Or maybe it was only with him.

So, he resorted to doing what he could possibly do in this situation. To try to be near, to try to let you in, to try to make you let him in. He even let you give him those medicines, claiming that it was for smoothing him and he was helping you research something.

He did not need them. He had Kafka, and you. Yet… he took them anyway.

He wanted you to… trust him. To let him in. That even despite how broken he was, he could be there for you until his promised demise.

Yet now, he bothered you once more with… Silver Wolf(?) Wolfie(?), he still was not sure. The bewilderment on your face when you realized he had forgotten was burnt into his memory and eating away at him.

People who had the misfortune of knowing him, whether in the past or now, always get hurt.

So, who would care for someone, no, something like him? Something that is just so broken and keep on forgetting every single damn—

Blade turned around and buried his forehead in Kafka’s shoulder, inhaling deeply.

The Mara–

“Listen: Focus on my voice, A-Ren. You’re in a bathtub right now. You are not alone. You’re currently with me, Kafka. We are back at the HQ. We are washing you up, and we have been here for 5 minutes. We are safe, there is no threat to speak of. I am using the shampoo I normally used…”

He turned silent as he heard her speak, his breathing slowly even out. The Mara quieted down, staying dormant for now. They obeyed her.

His eyes was blurry, his sense of touch numbed. Even the familiar scent of the products she used was muted out. The only thing in his world right now was her voice, so calming and gentle.

“I can’t remember.” He managed after what felt like a long time. “I barely do.”

He sounded like how he always did. Aloof and out of touch. Flat and indifferent.

But just like most of the time, it bothered him. The fact, one he could not change, was that he could not remember. He had accepted it, a reality that he could not defy, but somehow it always tormented him all the same.

Kafka watched as her lover struggled, not trembling (Blade does not do that), to tell her while she could only continue to give him support.

“A-Ren, look at me.” She requested, stroking the side of his face.

He kept his head down, not wanting to see her reaction, for fear that she too would look at him like that. Bewildered and concerned.

She should be.

“Please.”

He looked up, even if he did not want to.

Kafka had adorned that sad face of hers. Her eyes soften, the way her lips curled into a reassuring smile. She was sad.

Blade felt her fingers gently massage the back of his scalp as her thumb traced the hollow of his cheeks.

“A-Ren.” She spoke with a soft voice.

“I— can't remember, Kafka… And I almost—” He repeated, trying to watch if her expression changed.

It did not.

“A-Ren. I am safe. You are safe. [Name] is safe. You did not ‘almost’ do anything, you simply just didn't do it.”

She kissed his forehead.

“And, you may have forgotten things, but please remember none of us will blame you for it. Not me, nor Doc, nor Elio, nor Firefly or Silver Wolf. Don't beat yourself up because of something that is inevitable.”

Blade looked up at her before nodding.

“Now, let’s finish this up, shall we?”

You sat there on the floor, disassociating.

The dim green light behind you was the only light source in the room.

You should not be here. You should be back in your room resting. Each room had their purpose and mixing everything up would make getting back into routine even harder.

This room was to create, to watch, to monitor, not to… mellow about the inevitability of your patient, of Blade.

“I fucking hate this.” You cursed, moving to sit up more properly, your knees to your chest.

Yet there was nothing you could do was there? You were not a Memokeeper. You were a healer. A healer dealt with physical stuff and as much as you had dabbled into Psychology (was not a lot, since that woman did not value that area), you knew the mind was something you could not heal.

As powerful and ‘benevolent’ as Yaoshi was, you knew the only way you could even potentially affect the mind with your powers was through treating the physical symptoms in the first place.

There was nothing you could do.

So you just sat there, back facing the thing that was holding your creation.

Your hand slumped against your side as you buried your head in your knee.

There was this sense of responsibility on you. Elio did not say who should tell Silver Wolf, but you knew you were the best choice. Or him, but you knew how he was.

The comforting would probably need to be done by you anyway.

You stared down at yourself, at the way your hands did not even seem to tremble, steady with practice and experience. Even a part of you did not understand why you were this distraught.

It was just… announcing things. And comfort. Yeah… Things that were usually associated with your job.

You never really got to experience ‘reporting’ to a patient’s loved ones back then. The patients that woman brought in were all unsaveable by normal means, you learnt later on.

And given the identities of most of your patients, it was obvious there was no family member to even speak of. Or did they ever know the concept of family and friends in the first place.

So obviously, you only got to build that skill up right after you slipped through her grasp.

It was the first time you saw ‘Destructions’ in action on such a wide scale. The Annihilation Gang targeted your planet. Why? You did not know. They probably did it because they thought ruining a planet that recently joined the Family would make Nanook acknowledge them.

You were still so young back then, merely 16 when it happened. That woman was injured, badly. She did call out to you, at least you assumed she did. Cloudhymn magic could only do so much when it comes to healing when you were not an Elder, she was always more skilled in divinations anyway.

You did wonder how she could let it slip that a major disaster was going to happen. But diviners were people you never could understand anyway.

And so she fled, without you. You were so focused on saving and healing the others around you and the sound of bombs and collapsing buildings to even think about her. By the time the adrenaline was gone from your blood, you were talking to a parent of an old classmate.

They lived, thanks to you. But traumatized. You managed to heal the burns on their body but the pain they experienced was still there, always there. They screamed and begged and screamed and begged until they eventually felt unconscious.

You sometimes wondered how they were doing.

But there were things that were inevitable, even if you were gazed upon the Abundance themself.

Autopsy, reports, casualty numbers, comforting those who lost their loved ones. There was only one of you while there were tens of thousands of people who felt victim of that gang.

You had been trained in medical knowledge, in how to use them. But that was the day you actually got to experience full fledged everything that would come with this job.

Not to mention you were still a teenager. A teenager that was working along with adults. They asked and asked and you lied and lied. She prepared you beforehand and you knew every single way to dodge their questions.

But at least that event got you into the Intelligentsia Guild.

Lies were the thing that got you to where you were now after she was gone.

And maybe that why you went to the research route and not something like a Doctor back then. To hide away from what you always knew and to tapped back to what you always yearned for.

But now you were both, so you couldn't truly escape her grasp in the end.

“I look like a drunkard in a dark alley, don't I?” You mumbled to yourself, to Stelle. The only thing you were missing was a bottle or two of cheap liquor and a brain-shattering headache.

The only response was the slight flickering of the green light, but even then it was not her actually talking back to you. Still, you tried to imagine what her answer would be like. But you could not. There was no information, no basis, no numbers or records for you to base your imagination on.

She right now was a blank state, an infant.

Yet in 7 days, there will be no more of this, of just sitting here and talking to her, knowing she could not hear or respond.

Kafka would teach her the common language. She would teach Stelle a lot of things.

And then, your child would be able to respond and perhaps remember the stories you tell her. But that was someday in the future and right now, she was still here, with you, still not awake yet.

Your dearest creation.

Not ready yet, but would be soon.

You would miss this, miss having her as only your own. Of knowing where she was at all times if you ever wanted to find her.

Yet time waited for no one. And Destiny Slave’s predictions had never been wrong.

You sighed before noticing how the jade in your pocket was glowing slightly more. It blended in with the light from the pod. Right, you had a lot of work you need to do.

You stood up, turning to look at her. She looked peaceful and healthy. Safe within the confine of the pod.

You hoped she stayed that way, even after she fell into the responsibility of someone else. Stay peaceful and safe, yet free to do as she pleases. To be the happiest child in the world.

“I hope you shine brighter than any stars, Stelle.”

Chapter Text

Silver Wolf was standing in front of the Doctor’s door.

One may ask, what was the objective of this quest?

To check up on the Doctor, of course!

Kafka totally gonna take care of Blade no matter what, so it made total sense for Silver Wolf to check up on you, right? Yeah, yeah, no need to praise this hacker for her genius plans and good character.

And one would ask, what did this legendary hacker have in her inventory? Snacks, of course!

…

What kind of response was that? It was those healthier snacks, ok? Rice cake, seed bars, and some fruits she fetched from the fridges that she washed and cut up into slices. She was not careless enough to just bring anything to the Doctor.

She also thought it would be weird to check up on you without bringing at least something. After all, any popup quest of ‘The Doctor is checking up on Wolfie’ always left her with bountiful loot (as in snacks and drinks (and head pats, but let's not talk about that)).

…

She waited for 5 minutes.

Nothing!

Maybe you were asleep. That would explain it. Why did she not take into account that you may have been too tired you go to sleep right away?

But she really, really wanted to check up on you. Fortunately/conveniently, every Stellaron Hunter had the password to your room, ‘in case of an emergency’-you said. Given to her the first day she joined, the first moment she met you, since you weren’t a part of the group that fetched her.

She did think you were a bit weird for doing so, who the heck gives the password to their room to someone else the first time they meet?

But knowing how you actually were now? It would be weirder if you did not do that. Anyway, the point Silver Wolf was trying to make was that she could just go in right now and check up on you. Or heck, send Prometheus.

She was concerned enough to think about doing those things, but she stopped anyway. It was better to respect your privacy.

Later it is.

As she turned to head back to her room, thinking about how she actually would need to put the fruits away first, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

“Wolfie? What are you doing in this section?”

Before she could turn around, the sounds of your quickened steps reached Silver Wolf’s ear.

You had turned your Imaginary Sight, looking up and down Silver Wolf almost frantically.

“What do you need? Healing? Bandages? Do you feel weird in any places? Do you need me to check up on you?”

Silver Wolf looked at you, concerned yet not entirely shocked by your actions. You almost always spoke and acted like the only reason someone would seek you out was because they themselves needed your help. Whether injured or not.

Silver Wolf just awkwardly shook her head. “Uhm, no, actually I’m here to check up on you.”

You stopped your trains of questions, staring down at Silver Wolf as if trying to dissect her words.

“I even brought you snacks, see?” Silver Wolf raised one of the rice cake packages to your face. “Was a little worried you may feel a little down, given you did look a little down.”

You nodded along with her words, turning off your Imaginary Sight in the process. But after she finished speaking, you stayed silent for a moment, as if thinking about something.

“I mean, feel free to accept them, I ain’t the type to eat these types of things anyway.” Silver Wolf quickly added, worried you were overthinking stuff, again.

You just smiled at her, patting her head.

“No, it’s not that, actually, come in.” You turned to open the door.

Your room looked exactly how she remembered. Definitely a sanctuary of your own. It did not carry any of the vibe of your office; that room seemed so open and welcoming(yet still ridiculously medical) that even she could totally spend hours in there without feeling out of place.

On the contrary, this room of yours showed you off more, not just your professions. Of course, there were the books and research papers, but they blended in so well.

Silver Wolf looked around to find a place to put down the snacks. Your room did not come with a ‘socializing’ area, not like hers and Kafka's did. Every corner had its purpose, and nothing screams ‘the place to put snacks and drinks’.

In the midst of Silver Wolf's thoughts, you already got onto your bed before pulling out a little tray table. Where was that thing when you woke up from fainting last time? But Kafka was pretty adamant about feeding you herself, so…

She stopped mulling over you three and just walked over and laid out the snacks she had on her on it. Then, she took a seat on the bed as well, overly cautious about this.

“So… how was it? This is your first mission after a while, right? What did Elio make you do?” She ripped open something and gave it to you, watching as you munched on it. Your expression did not show anything noteworthy, just that calm and thoughtful look you carried.

The last time you had any major mission was before Silver Wolf joined. Major as in ‘collecting a Stellaron or stealing important document/stuff’ kind of mission. So obviously she never got to see you in action, heck, she did not even know what you were truly capable of.

She heard from Sam that you joined a little over three years ago, recruited and trained by Kafka. They said even they hardly ever saw you actually engage in combat, since you were mostly on the sidelines snipping down a target or two or tasked with collecting delicate objects.

It was almost like Elio did not want you to get into any bodily harm whatsoever, as ridiculous as it sounded, you were basically as immortal as Blade was.

She scanned you. Other than the fact that you were obviously tired, nothing really indicated that you got injured.

Sure, yeah, your healing was top notch, an Emanator no less. She was sure the Disciple of Sanctus Medicus would totally try to steal you away if they ever got wind of you.

Actually, the whole ‘Emanator’ thing Silver Wolf kinda put together, so don't go around telling everyone!

You swallowed. “It’s… as bad as I remember it being.” You started slowly, almost wincing from having to recall it. “Or at least it reignited my thoughts of cursing out Elio.”

“You want to curse out Elio?” That something Silver Wolf never would have guessed. Honestly, out of all the Stellaron Hunters, she would argue your trust for Elio was second only to Kafka's.

You shrugged. “Always do whenever he sends me on one. Don't people usually curse silently at themselves when they're assigned something by their boss?”

You reached for some fruits.

Silver Wolf watched you as you said it, like that was the most normal thing in the world. She meant… she never really had a supervisor or boss before she joined the Stellaron Hunters. But for you to say that?

“I thought you liked receiving orders.” Silver Wolf blurred out, eating some of the snacks herself.

You paused in your snacking to stare at her, the rice cake barely touching your lips. “Do I look like someone who does?” You asked, eyebrows raised.

'‘You did, Silver Wolf thought. ‘A lot actually.’

“Yeah?”

“Honestly, if his instructions were– Forget I ever asked.” And the conversation moved on.

You two talked a little more, Silver Wolf asking questions here and there, and you answering most of them.

She was smart enough not to ask what happened to Blade, though. Honestly, what does not happen to Blade? It was like every time he interacted with the TV and chose ‘Fortune teller’, he always got the message that the spirits were displeased.

“Honestly…” You chewed. “I felt kinda useless on that mission. I mean, Kafka and Blade would have probably taken care of it without me being there.”

Silver Wolf watched as you mule over your ‘uselessness’.

Useless, what nonsense.

Everyone knew Elio did things with purpose. Always planning, always scheming, always trying to find the most optimal paths. Elio did not include unnecessary and useless things in the script. That would not influence the future he wanted to head to was excluded. That man was a real min-maxer if you asked her.

So the fact you felt that way was more of an opinion than a fact, and you probably knew it too. Elio always had a purpose in mind. You only felt useless because you did not understand what specific role you played when it came to getting to what Elio wanted.

Because the roles you always occupied were never anywhere near the frontline. Always supporting from behind, always the one to help before and after the battle, but not in between.

“Or maybe there’s some variables he just did not include in the script that I was important for...” You added, probably to ease the mood. But Silver Wolf could still see the guilt evident in your eyes.

Silver Wolf nodded. It was best not to cause any more emotional strains on you right now. “Eh, you’ll get used to it, going back on missions, I mean. And trying to navigate Elio's scripts again.”

Somehow, she felt like she was the actual senior here instead of you.

“Yeah… can’t wait to see the bounty for my head catch up to the rest of us.” You smiled, yet it was even more strained than before. “Or having to listen to whatever the cosmos has to say about me, I guess.”

Right. That part.

Silver Wolf wished she could take a gulp of water right now because she was about to get into arguing mode.

The Doctor was the least yet most rumored about when it came to the Stellaron Hunters.

Sure, they had a picture of your face above your bounty, placed alongside all the other Stellaron Hunters (as it should, mind you). But it was just a 3D recreation of what testimonies the IPC had gathered. It was inaccurate, like the ‘maps’ in some of the games she had played.

If Silver Wolf could describe it at all, she would say they made you look… dull and boring. Like a passerby, an NPC that was never worth paying attention to. Your eyes were not as bright. You looked exhausted and bored, like you were forced to join. Heck, they even managed to make you look way more serious than you actually were.

But one would think that a bounty of 900 million credits placed by the IPC would surely confirm that there were, in fact, 5 Stellaron Hunters, all of whom followed Destiny’s Slave’s orders and command. (And how did they think the Stellaron Hunters manage to stay healthy? Destiny's Slave miraculously could see both the future and heal???)

Yet conspiracy theorists would always be conspiracy theorists.

Heck, she even saw online platforms presenting the idea that you were not even one in the first place. Just some contracted doctor that was quote-unquote either ‘threatened by the group into providing service or potentially get killed’ or ‘bribed with a lot of money’.

Heck, some even propose the idea that the Doctor was now dead, or that the group of ‘powerful and unstoppable’ criminals had no place for that kinda person, and you were just some hallucination of the witnesses. Sure, you had not gone on a mission in a while, but those speculations were out of control! (Like— for people who did not even know what you actually looked like, they sure had a lot of theories about the Doctor’s character!)

And those rumors only got worse once Silver Wolf joined. She swore that what she heard and read about you before was like childplay. Was this the work of someone back on her home planet? They were more than good at being keyboard warriors. She was beyond annoyed.

Some did also claimed they were once colleagues of yours, with most of them saying you were pretty talented yet disappeared one day, which further added fuel to whatever assumption many had of you.

Not to mention how your bounty remained unchanging even after several (probably a dozen) crimes that the Stellaron Hunters had done was broadcasted across the universe. People were talking about how even the IPC probably doubted your existence.

Silver Wolf did not like the rumors about you. The rumors about the Stellaron Hunters in general? Barely worth her time. What do those lot know anyway?

But it felt insulting to her. She was your colleague. You had healed her multiple, no, a few hundred times, from the smallest of paper cuts to a whole fractured rib. The fact that someone out there doubts the Doctor’s significance and efforts and even your existence infuriated her.

Yeah, what if you barely appeared! Even she, one who never played as a cleric or medic in a game, recognized the significance of that role in a team. Not to mention the Doctor’s inventions!

Who were they to judge someone like you? Heck, who would even qualify enough to judge the Doctor?

“Wolfie.” Your voice snapped Silver Wolf out of her train of thought. “I believe I should be the one sulking, not you.”

Ah… she probably made quite a face while thinking about all of that.

“Nah, just thinking that I’ll have to ‘carry’ you if we’re ever assigned together.” Silver Wolf joked to lighten the mood, but you only looked at her like she had just sprouted nonsense.

“‘Carry’ as in physically or as in a term you youngsters use that means something entirely different?”

“Of course not physically! That’s Sam or Blade's job.”

“Oke oke, then explain, Missy.”

The conversation, which started off as Silver Wolf asking you questions about your well-being, turned to her explaining random gaming terms to you.

In the end, you talked for 30 minutes more before Silver Wolf told you to go to sleep. You did argue (for fun, mind you, since she could tell you were on the verge of passing out at this point) that it would 100% mess up your sleep cycle. It was the middle of the day, after all.

But you had practically fallen asleep by the time Silver Wolf reached the door.

At least you went to sleep in a generally good mood, Silver Wolf thought.

At first, she did envy the fact that you never got assigned to go on missions, but now that she knew you better, she always hoped you were never on the scene. It took too much out of you.

Maybe she would really go through with the ‘carry’ joke.

When Silver Wolf left, you turned on your Imaginary Sight and scanned around. Once you deemed that no suspicious traces were present, you stood up and walked over to one of your bookshelves before pulling out a few medical records of Firefly.

Once you had settled them aside, you reached to pull out an empty compartment.

Silver Wolf was young and kind-hearted, so one would think you would just tell her the truth here and comfort her, too. That she was forgotten, not by strangers like you were, but by a co-worker and her original mentor, no less. It felt like the right time, but you did not do it.

Even if you knew she would not notice you faking it. You were more than fine physically. You could survive without sleep for a month; you tested it. It was just an easy way to send her off.

And the act you did beforehand should have made her think you were more agitated than you actually were.

Were you agitated and feeling fucking awful? Yes, but was doing all of the frantic searching if she was hurt considered an act too? Yes.

So she would focus on you more. On your well-being rather than your room.

She was too sharp and smart. You liked that about her, but it was working against your favor in this case.

You dispelled the Imaginary casing over all the stacks of hidden books you had. Or should you use the term ‘scrolls’ to describe them? Most were kept in pristine conditions, Imaginary almost suspending them in time.

If Imaginary made up every law in the Universe, it could break its own rules, too.

Silver Wolf yielded Quantum, so it would be easier for her than anyone else to notice this.

One may ask, why hide them? You, the Doctor, were well… a doctor, so if the scrolls in question were related to medical things, no one would ask.

Even if they were from the ‘Disciples of Sanctus Medicus’? You were not taking any chances. You even hid them here because your room was ‘accessible’ by most. Hiding them in plain sight.

You stared at the collection you had for the past three years before encasing them in Imaginary and hiding them again.

No one should know.

Because one clue will lead to another. You knew that too well, been punished because of that too many times. And you needed to make sure the amount of clues anyone can find was as low to zero as possible. Even if it was barely a clue.

And as long as Elio did not expose you (you never told the man, but he probably knew), you would continue this.

Because you wanted to save your longest patient.

Because you wanted to save Firefly.